Finance: restraint versus inflation
Inflation was a dominating force in financial
markets in 1979. Despite a slowing economy,
credit flows were only slightly less than the
record growth reached in 1978. Against the
Federal Reserve's intensified efforts to fight
inflation by monetary restraint, credit
demands pushed interest rates far higher than
the country had seen in this century. But inflation
itself, combined with the public's sinking
hopes that it would diminish much in the
foreseeable future, was an important element
contributing to high interest rates.