With the economy’s growth rate of 2.4%, price inflation of 1.6% and a jobless rate of 3.5%, the US central bank has delivered on its mandate of fully-employed economy and stable prices. It’s up to US public health authorities, the Treasury and the Congress to handle the coronavirus epidemic. American, European and Chinese central banks are cooperating by maintaining very easy credit conditions; throwing more money at liquidity-flooded asset markets is not what is needed. The U.S. Federal Reserve could have saved itself an unnecessary — and counterproductive — interest rate cut last week by explaining to Americans that their fully employed economy needed no further credit easing. As a reminder, note that the Fed’s charter mandates what amounts to a fully-employed economy and stable prices. That’s a very tough call. In fact, an unsustainable long-term outcome. So, to start with, the Fed could have told the Main Street last week that the economy ended 2019 with a growth rate of 2.4%, and (what economists call) a full-employment jobless rate of 3.5%.