One of the most consequential statements of Joe Biden’s presidency came around Memorial Day, and it went largely unnoticed. In advance of a meeting with Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, Biden explained his plan “to address inflation.” “It starts,” he declared, “with the simple proposition: respect the Fed and respect the Fed’s independence.”

The reason virtually no one commented on the remark is that the “independence” of the Federal Reserve to fight inflation is so taken for granted, so foundational to the economic orthodoxy of our times, that few economists and financial reporters can imagine it being otherwise. Inflation, from their perspective, is a technical challenge best managed by experts. Central bankers are those experts, and monetary policy is their specialty.

The truth, however, is that anti-inflation monetary policy is painfully simple: it is nothing more than the increase in short-term interest rates. Higher short-term interest rates are supposed to function like a brake on economic activity — they slow down lending and borrowing, investment and spending, which in turn reduces total demand. When demand drops, it takes the number of jobs available and the rate of wage growth down with it. Put simply, the Federal Reserve fights inflation with a blunt instrument — short-term interest rate adjustment — that is intended to engineer a slowdown and increase unemployment.