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The Federal Reserve maintains strict rules prohibiting FOMC members from commenting on the economic outlook or monetary policy in the 10 days preceding an FOMC meeting or on the following day.\xa0 Thereafter they are free to speak and over the last two weeks many have opined on both subjects.\xa0 Their opinions show remarkable unanimity.\xa0 They are focused on bringing inflation back down to their 2% target.\xa0 They acknowledge the uncertainty in the economic outlook, and, as a consequence, they profess themselves to be \u201cdata dependent\u201d and frequently quote, with furrowed brows, the year-over-year increases in CPI and consumption deflator measures of inflation.