They aren’t controlling rates, just influencing them when necessary. There is plenty of demand for American debt without the Fed, especially considering how terrible a lot of the rest of the world’s debt is. But in a vacuum, an American debtor overpaying for a poorly built house, carrying other debt, with poor long term career prospects, living in a country with massive unfunded liabilities, etc. just does not seem to match up with 3% interest. Call me old fashioned.
Agreed; it's how congress complies w/ Section 8 Art.III of the Constitution "to regulate the value" of the dollar. People can say what they want but the Feds are doing pretty good in that department.
an American debtor overpaying for a poorly built house
There's a lot of America bashing going around but the fact is that the average American is fine and has been reducing his debt and getting richer --it's the federal government that's sinking wantonly into debt, not the average American. Over the past seven years total private debt has actually fallen $0.3T to $13.4T --while the total federal debt has been doubling to $17.8T.