Why a recession is now likely

Rarely do prominent left-of-center economists, such as Jason Furman, Paul Krugman, or Larry Summers, as well as members of the Federal Open Market Committee, or the FOMC, the interest-rate-setting body of the Federal Reserve, agree on a policy matter as important as the appropriate level of interest rates.

But the shocking hourly wage data from the November employment report brought a uniform response from the economists: Wage inflation is too high.