15 Yes, the Fed’s job would be (much) easier if the real world of 2019 satisfied the requirements to run Friedman’s k-percent policy rule, but it does not and has not for at least 50 years, and our policy framework must and does reflect this reality. This reality includes the fact that the U.S. economy is in a very good place.
The unemployment rate is at a 50-year low, real wages are rising in line with productivity, inflationary pressures are muted, and expected inflation is stable. Moreover, the federal funds rate is now in the range of estimates of its longer-run neutral level, and the unemployment rate is not far below many estimates of u*.