New Delhi, Sept. 10 -- At Jackson Hole last month, all eyes were on US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh in his first speech at the Fed's annual conference. But all thoughts were about the central bank's rate decision next week.

Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard economist who was at Jackson Hole as a lunchtime speaker, offered this advice to a New York Times journalist: "If they can possibly put it off till after the midterms, it would be good for the institution."

Given US President Donald Trump's attacks on the Fed, he asked: "If you're trying to preserve Fed independence, are you preserving it better by spitting in his face, or are you preserving it better by laying low and waiting until the winter?"

However, playing politics to preserve it...