I disagree with your assessment of this as a first world problem, though I largely agree with everything else. For sure one of the biggest reasons why this isn't a first world problem is that debt is denominated in dollars, and the dollar (until like last week) had been rising dramatically along with interest rates since suddenly government bonds were sort of profitable, or at least less unprofitable than the had been. So all the poor people of the world who have had to borrow in dollars and pay in Rand or whatever are utterly fucked right now. The interest rate rises have been fucking a lot of people, and just because you're comfortable in general doesn't mean you shouldn't be complaining about it. I have a hard time jibing with Powell's thinking. Didn't raise rates because Trump bullied him into not raising them, but now can't stop himself even when there's ample evidence that (1) you can't interest hike your way out of a supply problem, which is where most inflation has come from, and (2) the effect of rate hike has probably already been felt to the point that all you're doing now is beating a dead horse. Weak leadership. Weak rationale.Multiply times the economy
I'm not really hurt by it because I don't have to buy the damn building. The rates on the sign lease keep climbing but I could cut a check for the damn sign. If I did so, of course, that's that much less down-payment on the building yadda yadda yadda but really, this all comes down to "how cheaply can you spill money" and it's not like credit cards are within the same order of magnitude as prime rates, ever. Payday loan people? They charge what they charge, they don't give a fuck about Jerome Powell. But here's the thinking: - IF Phillips Curve, then Supply Side Economics. The Phillips Curve effectively says "if rich people are in trouble, get poor people fired." Its solution to rich people not being able to borrow is to destroy poor peoples' livelihood. - IF Sahm Rule, then communism. The Sahm Rule effectively says "if poor people are getting fired, pay them to save rich people's investments." Its solution to rich people not being able to borrow is to ensure poor people's livelihood. Economics is nothing more than the careful exclusion of externalities to justify your monetary philosophy. And the Fed has never given the first fuck about the poor.