Hassett: US three-month annualized core inflation near Fed’s 2% target

Hassett's framing does the work here: by shifting the lens to a three-month annualized core reading, the White House is arguing that the inflation problem is already solved on a near-term basis, which implicitly pressures the Fed toward easing. The gap that matters is between short-window momentum and the twelve-month figures the Fed officially targets — a distinction that has repeatedly split the committee. Whether policymakers lean on the same short-horizon measure when they next meet is the open question.