For the Federal Reserve, policymaking these days is about deciding which of two imposing evils to take on — a decidedly moribund economy or the increasing threat that inflation poses to battered consumers.

 

For much of the slow slog out of the financial crisis, the Fed span#ExplainsLink a, span#ExplainsLink a img, span#ExplainsLink a:visited img, span#ExplainsLink a:visited { border: medium none; }  which is meeting this week and will issue its policy statement Wednesday, has managed to train its gaze on jump-starting growth through its various quantitative easing measures.

But recent indicators show that inflation span#ExplainsLink a, span#ExplainsLink a img, span#ExplainsLink a:visited img, span#ExplainsLink a:visited { border: medium none; } is posing an equally daunting threat that further monetary accommodation from the Fed might serve only to aggravate.