Texas Town With Biggest US Pay Raise Keeps Powell on Hiking Path

Anyone who wonders why the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates last month – even in the middle of a banking storm – might find the answer in Midland, Texas.

Thousands of miles away from the turmoil on Wall Street, the city that ranked No.1 in the US for inflation just over a year ago has since ceded that title – only to lay claim to a different one: the country’s pay-raise capital.

Read More: Inflation at 10% Is Punishing the Hardest-Hit Town in US

What that looks like, to an inflation-fighting central bank, is a wage-price spiral – ...