The Fed, painfully aware that an equities bull market is an existential threat in today's hyper-leveraged world, quickly caved, promising no more rate increases if the market would just put down the gun.

This worked for a little while. Stocks jumped to new record highs and unicorn tech IPOs started pouring out of Silicon Valley. Normal, which is to say booming, markets were back.

But of course it couldn't last. An overleveraged economy is not just addicted to new credit, but to ever-increasing levels of new credit. So stable interest rates won't stave off withdrawal. From here on out only steadily (or steeply) falling interest rates will delay the inevitable crisis.

That's the signal the financial markets are now sending the Fed, as stocks begin to roll back over …