Posted on 12/13/2015 1:51:46 PM PST by BenLurkin
Federal Reserve officials are likely to raise their benchmark short-term interest rate from near zero Wednesday, expecting to slowly ratchet it higher to above 3% in three years.
But that's if all goes as planned. Their big worry is they'll end up right back at zero.
Any number of factors could force the Fed to reverse course and cut rates all over again: a shock to the U.S. economy from abroad, persistently low inflation, some new financial bubble bursting and slamming the economy, or lost momentum in a business cycle which, at 78 months, is already longer than 29 of the 33 expansions the U.S. economy has experienced since 1854.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Not so...everything you stated is right on the mark. Yes, the middle class is being crushed. BECAUSE of our gubbamints monumental fiscal mismanagement, interest rates have been held artificially low for years. Killing savings of regular ol folks.
You hit the nail on the head.
Well, “I” live in Michigan, and the manufacturers here are hiring. So, the statement that “we have not managed to add a single manufacturing job in years” is BS.
Manufacturing employment bottomed out at 11.4 million in Q1 2010. It's now 12.3 million.
Inflation has run below the Fed's 2% target for more than three years. In normal times the Fed would push rates up as an expansion strengthens to slow growth and tame upward pressures on consumer prices. With no signs of inflation, officials haven't felt a need to follow that old game plan.
Yeah I know, even though when actual price trends are added up it may look like deflation, everyone knows we got run-away inflation because we feeeel it. That's the FR fantasy but the WSJ repeats the goofy DC fantasy that the fed is supposed to do something about jobs, that somehow the Fed's here so that
"unemployment and inflation can be kept low and stable".
Good for you, mine has a January reset but sitting at 2.5 isn’t bothering me. I doubt the index will rise much.
They bring it up occasionally because it might appease those of us who care. They probably put it in a few position papers that will be forgotten after the election. By campaigning, I mean stir the pot, make it a real issue and have a whole lot of voters demanding change. NOBODY is doing that!
If there's an issue that Trump doesn't embrace, it doesn't become part of the discussion. ONLY Trump knows how to do that!
Yes I agree. We are planning to sell and move to our mountain place soon so we are not going to ride the rate much longer anyway.
Japan just went to negative rates and China just devalued the Yuan yet again so I’m not seeing how our rates go up much. In fact I think Yellen will have to take that .25 pt back pretty quick. Our stock market is already down about 600-700 pts this month.
It’s the Fed trying to manipulate economic activity and behavior.
It all makes sense when you read “The road to Serfdom”
by F.A. Hayek.
And not good sense either.
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