Inflation Target Acquired

By Stacey Vanek Smith,

Cardiff Garcia

Published April 30, 2018 at 4:11 PM EDT

Every year, the average American buys a certain amount of goods and services. Inflation measures how the prices of those goods and services are changing.

The Federal Reserve has a target for inflation. It wants us at that sweet spot, where the economy is purring along, but not going so fast that it's in danger of overheating.

That sweet spot is two percent. And we hit that today. Which is great news. The question is, what does the Fed do now to keep us there?

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Stacey Vanek Smith

Stacey Vanek Smith is the co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money. She's also a correspondent for Planet Money, where she covers business and economics. In this role, Smith has followed economic stories down the muddy back roads of Oklahoma to buy 100 barrels of oil; she's traveled to Pune, India, to track down the man who pitched the country's dramatic currency devaluation to the prime minister; and she's spoken with a North Korean woman who made a small fortune smuggling artificial sweetener in from China.

See stories by Stacey Vanek Smith

Cardiff Garcia

Cardiff Garcia is a co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money podcast, along with Stacey Vanek Smith. He joined NPR in November 2017.

See stories by Cardiff Garcia