Interest rates up, interest rates the same?

The Washington Post reports on some controversey at the Fed. Janet Yellen, a member of the Fed Board of Governors, believes that the federal funds rate has reached a level consistent with inflation at the "comfort level". The article suggests that the funds rate hikes in the past two years have cooled the housing market and the economy in general; and the slowing of the economy will bring and keep inflation down. The federal funds rate is an overnight rate between banks and the mortgage rate is a rate that spans over many years; and there has always been a question of how close is the connection between the two. The Fed clearly can and does move the federal funds rate. The picture nearby (produced at the very cool FRED site) shows why there is a question as to the Feds influence on the mortgage rate.