LEE CARTER: The Fed finally raised rates. The real danger now for the GOP is what happens next
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates Wednesday for the first time since 2023.There will be much discussion about what this means for the economy.There should be.But there is another question, less technical and perhaps more important as we approach the midterms.What does it mean to the people living in the economy?FOX NEWS POLL: SQUEEZED BY COSTS, FRUSTRATED VOTERS TURN TO THE DEMOCRATSThe Fed sees an economy strong enough to withstand higher rates.
Growth is solid.Consumers are still spending.
Businesses are investing.The labor market is holding up.These are good things.And yet there is something strange about the word economists keep using to describe the American consumer.Resilient.Americans have certainly been that.They have absorbed years of higher prices.
They have adjusted household budgets.They have postponed purchases.
They have watched mortgage rates make houses they once could afford suddenly unaffordable.They have put more on credit cards and paid more interest for the privilege.US ECONOMY NOTCHES REMARKABLE NEW RECORD, SPARKING CHEERS: ‘GOOD JOB EVERYONE’And they have kept going.But perhaps we’re asking too much of the word "resilient."A family can be resilient because it is thriving.It can also be resilient because it has no choice.A consumer can keep spending while putting more on a credit card.A small business can keep its doors open while canceling the expansion it hoped to finance.The spreadsheet calls that resilience.The voter may call it exhaustion.FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: VOTERS SAY THEY’RE IN ECONOMIC PAIN, BUT WILL DEMOCRATS GAIN?There comes a point when people don’t want to hear that they’re weathering the storm remarkably well.They want the storm to end.That is the part of Wednesday’s decision Washington should be thinking about.The Federal Reserve raised rates because inflation remains too high.
Higher interest rates are meant to slow demand.Borrowing becomes more expensive.
People spend less.Businesses invest less...