[aguyfromnb]

>too low rates

Define "too low". The world is awash in capital, no one is going to borrow from you at 5%+. Or are you one of those "we should raise rates so we can lower them later" people?

>you're trusting a bunch of bureaucrats that know no better than to follow what the bond market

The Fed are confined to monetary mechanisms. The rest falls on politicians. But the powers-that-be seem to have decided that they will not allow us to have a deflationary bust again, so they are going to print money and deal with the inflationary consequences down the road.

[H8crilA]

> Define "too low". The world is awash in capital.

You defined it in the next sentence. Capital should be the judge of prospectuses - i.e. of ideas to implement in the real world. When there's too much capital there's no judge (i.e. it's not really capitalism any more).

All bubbles are a consequence of too much money and too much credit/faith in something.

[throwaway34241]

If the Fed is already often failing to achieve their target inflation rate, wouldn't raising interest rates cause them to undershoot it even further and lower investment / set off a recession?

I think their point is that while it's arguable that rates are too low, congress needs to change fiscal policy for them to be able to raise rates, so it's unfair for the Fed to get all the blame here. They're using the policy tool they have to execute their mandate and the other (maybe better) policy tools are out of their hands.

[toomuchtodo]

Correct. These are fiscal policy problems, not monetary. The Fed is helpless with the tools they have while Congress needs to act.

[ceejayoz]

> The world is awash in capital, no one is going to borrow from you at 5%+.

https://www.valuepenguin.com/mortgages/historical-mortgage-r...

> Continued hikes in the fed funds rate pushed 30-year fixed mortgage rates to an all-time high of 18.63% in 1981.

[H8crilA]

Exactly, Paul Volker is the last Fed president that actually implemented a policy (of killing inflation), rather than just respond to what the market tells him to do.

He is remembered as a hero. Ray Dalio did an interview with Volker not long before Volker passed away:

https://youtu.be/mMN17uBzCw4