Fed Hikes Rates To Feign Confidence – Ep. 235

* Today the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the third time in 10 years * Of course, the tightening cycle began with the first rate hike in December of 2015 * Followed by the second rate hike in December of last year * And now, breaking from tradition, rather than waiting an entire year for the third hike * We got the hike in March * Of course the Fed had allowed market expectations to rise to 100% in anticipation of this rate hike * When the Fed raised rates for the first time they talked about raising rates for an awfully long time before they actually got around to doing it * Ironically, though, about 2 hours earlier than the rate hike announcement, the Atlanta Fed revised down again its projection for Q1 GDP  to .9 * Remember - at the beginning of February, not even 6 weeks ago, the Atlant Fed was at 3.4% for Q1 GDP * They're down to .9%!  That is a huge collapse in estimates for economic growth in the first quarter * And I'm sure it portends ill for subsequent quarters * And remember - Janet Yellen has always said that the Federal Reserve is not on a preset course * And that rate hikes that they are forecasting will only happen to the extent that their economic forecast pans out * That all of their rosy expectations of economic recovery has come true * Yet none of it has come true * If anything, you've had a collapse in growth estimates since the last time the Fed met, yet * The collapse in GDP forecast has done nothing to alter the Fed's path, because they've ignored all the data * And they raised interest rates yet again * That doesn't mean that interest rates are high, I mean they're still very low * Remember, we're still not at a range between .75% and 1% so the average of that range, the midpoint, is still below 1% * 1% was the emergency level that Alan Greenspan slashed rates to, after the dot com bubble bust and after the September 11 terrorist attack sent the U.S. economy into recession * At that point, in a recession, the lowest rates got was 1% * The Fed would have to hike rates again to get back up thereOur Sponsors:* Check out Chilipad and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://sleep.me* Check out Fast Growing Trees and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://www.fast-growing-trees.com* Check out Plaud AI and use my code GOLD for a great deal: https://plaud.ai* Check out Quince and use my code quince.com/gold for a great deal: https://www.quince.com* Check out Quince and use my code quince.com/gold for a great deal: https://www.quince.com* Check out TruDiagnostic and use my code GOLD20 for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy