9.3 million borrowers???? Seriously.... The article shows how many people would feel a quarter point rate hike and that 11.8 million would feel it under a full percentage point increase. The article goes on to say that if borrowers can't handle the hike they should contact their lenders to try and make arrangements.... Also said to start thinking about budget changes... Haa...so all of this is related to a possible 0.25% increase in fed funds rate. Just goes to show you how weak and sad this economy really is if people have to talk to their lenders to make changes.....this fed rate rate hike has become so comical on wallstreet I don't even know why it's even talked about any more...too amusing to even think how this quarter point hike to a 0.50% is the downfall of the economy yet over 30 years ago we had fed funds rate above 10%...even a 5% fed funds rate would crush this economy according to what I read in this article... If millions are going to be effected by a 1/4 point hike imagine how many tens of millions would feel a 3% or 4% fed funds rate... so thinking of where fed funds rate could possibly go in the next 5, 10, 20 years, you'd be lucky to see them above 2%.... http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/19/inte...rate-hike-would-hit-most-peoples-wallets.html
You don't seem to understand that the economy, the stock market, and interest rates are three totally different things. Interest rates are set at whatever level maximizes positives in the economy, there is no "normal" rate as you seem to believe in. NA People and economies adapt to any rate whether it's 0% or 15%, history has proven this. Some critics in the 1980s were forever declaring high rates and inflation were going to be the ruin of NA economies. You seem obsessed with so much. How do you plan on modifying your own behavior and plans to reflect your ideas of oncoming collapses in everything ? Is your job ( assuming you are employed ) really all that safe ? Are you capable of the flexible approach necessary to survive in a global market, or will you forever be expecting your US government to protect you ? Would you really be happy seeing a 5% interest rate if the shock of that move meant you lost your job ? Or is it better to stay employed, have a composed stock market and economy, and an interest rate somewhere between 0.25% and 2.25% ? Can you understand that the Fed and the government are there to promote positive outcomes and not fulfill some crazy mandate of what you think "normal" rates are ?
Your an apologist to the interventionist ways of our gov... Even though 2007 is a total doomsday guy.. you are pro socialism through the dilution of the risk taking entrepreneur and the complete thief of the fix incomer and wage earners... This isn't rocket science.. interest rates up .. asset valuations down... Yes that's stocks... They are all connected... Interest rates are derived naturally from people's time preferences... The artificially interest rate the fed creates creates Malinvestment and destroys value.... There is a race for yield..Asset prices are high.. interest rates go up.. income producing assets will go down... Again it's not rocket science.. and I'm not calling for an end of the world senario
That whole CNBC article is a load of crap. Yeah, if people are going to get worried if their monthly costs rise by $25-50... then you're doing something wrong. Especially if you're still getting your $5 daily Starbucks hit and are 'worried' that you will not be able to do that anymore... boohoo... the media throws another scary article about nothing. I've got a variable home loan, and if the interest rate rises... it's not going to be 1-on-1. Neither will it be for credit cards... The general public isn't concerned with the stock market either... Another thing, if the stock market 'crashes' on .25 or .50 increase... that will be a massive buy right there. Rate increase is good for banking... and that small of an increase isn't going to create horror for normal households, so it's not going to make a big impact in corp earnings... Bond market is another thing though...
Do you understand the "positive outcomes" you refer to are not (required to be or necessarily) geared to the masses. The Fed and the government et al can also be targeted groups.
What I am saying is blind faith in higher interest rates based on the meaningless idea of historical "normal" is uneducated. Policy is based on creating better outcomes not deliberately creating negative outcomes. If you think government policy isn't geared at all to the masses in the US you haven't thought this through well. For example, higher personal tax rates aren't popular with the masses.
We aren't calling for higher interest rates per say.. we are calling for less gov intervention.. the idea that the fed is doing anything good at this point is a complete delusion....you have definitely drunk from the punch bowl
You hold an opinion my friend. Millions of the rest of us hold an opposite opinion. I at least have based my opinion on a pretty deep dive into the facts and a broad background in the subject. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you have as well. I don't think what you believe is a "complete delusion" or "have definitely drunk from the punch bowl" even though I disagree with your opinion. I am, however, less likely to carefully consider what you have to say and revise my opinion based on it when you use hyperbole like that and completely dismiss those who disagree with you, especially when they represent the majority opinion of those who have carefully studied this subject. And even more so when someone posts a carefully reasoned argument that you ignore in favor of hyperbole.