Under new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, the central bank raised its benchmark rate to 3.75%-4.00% on Wednesday — a decision that quietly but unmistakably answers one of the enduring questions of democratic governance: whether independent institutions can hold their course when political winds blow against them. Appointed by a president who expected accommodation, Warsh instead chose restraint, acknowledging through policy what rhetoric had obscured — that inflation, fed by tariffs, energy shocks, and an AI investment surge, remains a stubborn guest that has extended its stay to at least 2