Although President Joe Biden has so far adhered to his promise to respect the independence of the Federal Reserve, fellow Democrats continue to refuse to play quite so coy, with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) overtly calling upon Chairman Jerome Powell to juice the economy in time for the president’s reelection by cutting the federal funds rate. Unluckily for cynics wishing to play politics with the central bank, the Fed remains data-dependent, and the data overwhelmingly indicate that despite the White House’s best efforts otherwise, the Fed is slowly but surely pulling off a soft landing.

After a gangbuster third quarter of 4.9% annualized economic growth last year, the economy once again exceeded expert expectations, closing out 2023 with 3.3% annualized growth in the final quarter. In large part, robust consumption growth drove GDP, but perhaps more significant was yet another quarter of growth in government spending.