CNBC reports:

It's OK if inflation overshoots target a bit as the labor markets tighten, Fed's Harker says.

The preannounced target thus is not the target.  We receive yet another stream of reworked definitions from our quasi-federal agency.  We have heard this over and over since the 2008 financial debacle and the resultant creation of this new "Super Fed."

There are two points to remember at this juncture.

First, the Federal Reserve's three mandates, under which they are bound to operate as a condition of their existence and exercise of power, charges the Fed with the duty to encourage and maintain "stable prices."  There may be theories in ivory towers that can prove anything, but price inflation is not "stable prices."

Second, the unauthorized promotion of inflation by the Federal Reserve, and their target of 2%, has already been met and exceeded.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that year over year, from February 2016 to February 2017, inflation is 2.7%.  (Let us also keep in mind that the metric used by the government is biased to lower readings as they omit necessities and interject technological advances as deflationary.)

Yet, the Wall Street Journal reports:

Neel Kashkari (Federal Reserve Board Minnesota) spoke at an event during the Jackson Hole economic symposium in Wyoming last August. On Friday, the Minneapolis Fed chief said, "We are still coming up somewhat short on our inflation mandate, and we may not have yet reached maximum employment." 

"Their" inflation mandate?  We guess that is the oft-mentioned 2% inflation goal of Janet Yellen.  But, as noted, the BLS has the last 12-month inflation rate at 2.7%.

Under what authority does the Federal Reserve self-author its own mandates, much less promote inflation?  This is nothing more than federal agency self-expansion of powers and mission creep infecting the quasi-"federal" Federal Reserve.

So what we have here is the moving of the goalposts – goalposts that in themselves are contrary to any authorization.  The goalpost of 2% inflation is counter to the mandate, the mission statement of the Federal Reserve.  And even when met and exceeded, it is ignored.

This is not the first moving of the targets from this now "Super Federal Reserve."  This Federal Reserve has self-expanded its powers under the guise of an emergency long since passed.

Back in 2012, Bernanke had this position:

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday (2012) agreed to keep a key short-term rate near zero until the 7.7% unemployment rate is 6.5% or lower. The short-term rate will also stay unchanged at 0.25%, the Fed said, until the current 2.2% inflation pace hits 2.5%.

When Bernanke made this statement, the Dow Jones was 12,938.  (Now 20,945.)

Unemployment has since gone as low as 4.7%.  (Note that 6.5% was the Fed point of interest.)

So rates have been constantly pegged below the inflation rate since December 2008.  The inflation rate is being pushed up by a Fed policy that operates in direct conflict with their mandate and mission statement.  The inflation rate is well above their "target," and unemployment improvements also have exceeded their targets.

Targets seem to be set, then ignored.  This has become the norm for these central planners and is explained away and falsely justified as each preannounced "goal" point is met and exceeded.

For the Federal Reserve to constantly move the goalposts is in harmony with their constant self-expansion of powers and complete disregard for mission statements and mandates.  Their unbound powers will prove irresponsible and detrimental.  Inflation may serve someone, but it certainly hurts many others as well.  Central planners pick and choose which group carries the burden of their policies.  Free markets, anyone?