Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said inflation has been too high for too long and reaffirmed her commitment to returning it to the central bank’s objective while preserving labor-market strength. Speaking at a Richmond Fed conference on investing in rural America in Asheville, North Carolina, Cook only briefly discussed monetary policy and did not address the latest inflation data. Inflation increased less than expected in August, and traders now expect the Federal Reserve to skip a rate hike at its October meeting, particularly after New York Fed President John Williams said he saw no urgency for another increase soon after this month’s quarter-point policy-rate increase. Cook devoted most of her remarks to the rural economy, where she said inflation has tended to run higher than nationwide and labor-force participation rates are lower.