Thirty years ago, inflation was running at a high of 13.6 percent. The Federal Reserve had to adopt aggressive measures to tighten monetary policy and fight inflation. The Fed tightened money supply and the target Fed Funds rate rose to 20 percent. The economy took a downturn and two recessions quickly followed the Fed's actions (from January 1980 to July 1980 and from July 1981 to November 1982). Currently, our economy is experiencing yet another scenario where the Fed must take extreme action in monetary policy. However, this time around, the conditions are not quite the same.
Read the article (PDF)