General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJanet Yellen and the Federal Reserve needs to raise interest rates soon and often
Higher borrowing costs are the only checks on Trump and the congress from exploding the national debt to pay for tax cuts for the rich and wars abroad.
Wounded Bear
(58,645 posts)remember, deficits only matter when there is a D in the White House. Trump is the King of Debt.
No problem.
Yavin4
(35,433 posts)Higher rates also slows down the economy.
Wounded Bear
(58,645 posts)and tells the truth for a change. Repubs have been given a pass on their bullshit for years. I'm not real hopeful, though there have been some promising signs with how they've quoted Trump lately.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)The deficit is under control and must be kept that way. Raise those rates!
Yavin4
(35,433 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)Cut off the excess cash.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)I despise Trump as much as anyone, but sending us and the world back into a high unemployment recession is not the way to fight the pig.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)GDP and debt are equal. We do not have much room to move at this point.
Yavin4
(35,433 posts)and de-regulate us into another massive credit bubble. All of which would damage us much more than slightly higher unemployment.
It's fine to have low rates when reasonable people run the government, but when lunatics are at the helm with no one to check them is the reason why the Fed was created in the first place.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)Think about it. Higher rates actually bring in more interest money from foreign bond buyers who want US treasuries. Also hurts the economy in general. I do agree rates should be increased slowly, but your logic for doing so is absurd
Yavin4
(35,433 posts)The difference here is that the Republicans want to take advantage of low rates to borrow in order to pay for their massive tax cuts and a new war in the Middle East.
The Fed is the only independent body that can put a damper on their plans. It would at least give the Dems some ammunition to tailor the tax breaks for the middle class instead of the wealthy.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)The US borrowing money from itself... what do the rates matter? There was discussion between serious economists about how the US could just print a trillion dollar coin and then spend it in order to solve debt problems/create money velocity and inflation back a couple years ago. Raise the rates to 20% and they can still print that coin.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)The economy has been growing for over 7 years now.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)lots of unemployment. If the debt goes up, interest rates will naturally rise.
roamer65
(36,745 posts)Yavin4
(35,433 posts)The dollar is safe. However, you cannot let the Republicans take advantage of that and lower interest rates.