In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.

The one thing absolutely nobody disputes is that Jerome Powell’s life would personally be much, much better if he just let himself retire. At almost 73, Powell has long hinted at his intention to resign entirely from the Federal Reserve after his term as chairman expires in May, even though his term as a board governor doesn’t expire for another two years. After nearly 14 years at the central bank, Powell — who has trudged through the trenches during the failure of the Fed’s decadelong experiment in zero interest rate policy, his failed 2018 attempt to right the ship with quantitative tightening, the central bank’s total surrender to the COVID-19-era ZIRP zeitgeist, culminating in the worst inflationary crisis since the catastrophe of Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, and finally, achieving a soft enough landing with historically full employment maintained as inflation stabilizes below 3% — should be ready to retire from the vicissitudes of the most important finance job on the planet.