Reasons for supporting a rate hike: 1. High inflation data – High CPI and PPI data in September highlight that progress in reducing inflation has been slow for the second consecutive year. 2. Costs of delayed action – Given the market's widespread expectation of a rate hike in December, hawks may argue that waiting another six weeks, considering the costs of delayed action, is not beneficial. 3. Insufficiently restrictive interest rates – Hawks will also argue that current policy has not yet reached a “restrictive” level, which is exactly what is needed. Reasons for holding off: 1. Manageable risk of spreading rate hikes – If policymakers still believe that two or three more rate hikes are needed, spreading the remaining rate hikes will not be costly. Former Fed official Kaplan pointed out that the risk of acting six weeks later is manageable. 2. Misleading consecutive rate hikes – Consecutive rate hikes may send the signal to the market that the rate hike cycle is faster than policymakers expect. 3. Pre-election action is unusual – officials had previously hinted at no rush to act, and Warsh's silence fueled market expectations of maintaining interest rates unchanged; a sudden rate hike on the eve of the election would undoubtedly trigger market turmoil. The Federal Reserve has never raised interest rates unexpectedly before an election.