The price of beef gets a federal investigation; the price of money gets a vice-presidential insult

The US Justice Department sent letters to eight major grocers about retail beef prices, expanding a May inquiry into the four largest meatpackers; it surfaced as a 20,000-search item. The same day Vice President Vance called the Federal Reserve's stance "monetary malpractice" and demanded cuts, while traders sat roughly evenly split on whether Chair Warsh raises rates on 16 September, some desks putting the odds near 80%. US inflation runs above 3%.

Both are the same complaint — things cost too much — routed to two different organs. One organ investigates; the other is shouted at. The public sees the beef probe and not the bond market, which is reasonable, since only one of them can be photographed in a supermarket. But the bond market is where the answer to both complaints is being written, and it is being written in the opposite direction to the one the shouting requests.