This is nothing less than economic malpractice.  They know that higher rates are crushing the economy, but they apparently believe that more pain is needed.  Officials at the Fed just hiked rates another 25 basis points, and they are now the highest that they have been since August 2007…

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a point, but opened the door to a long-awaited pause in the most aggressive tightening campaign since the 1980s.

The unanimous decision puts the key benchmark federal funds rate at a range of 5% to 5.25%, the highest since August 2007, from near zero a little more than one year ago. It marks the 10th consecutive rate increase aimed at combating high inflation.

When the Fed raised rates that high in 2007, it didn't exactly work out so well, did it?

The next year we plunged into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Now a new economic crisis has begun, and even CNN is admitting that higher rates will make things even worse…

Meanwhile, investors are still coming to terms with the rapid run-up in rates, which sparked a huge sell-off in US government bonds and stocks last year.

Banks that failed to adequately prepare have been hammered. The shifting landscape paved the way for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March and First Republic Bank this week.

More pain could be on the way. The commercial real estate sector, which is very sensitive to high interest rates, looks particularly vulnerable — its problems made worse by a glut of empty office buildings in the wake of the pandemic.