The Federal Reserve is trying to raise rates because they're
looking for some wiggle room when the economy 'officially' slips into a
recession. At that point they can try and drop the rates to get things moving
again. If they keep them down near zero, then they have nowhere to go. They
don't want to take the US economy into negative interest rates. It's bad enough
for Japan to fall into that cycle. If the US ventures into that zone then it
sends a dangerous signal to the rest of the world.
Regardless of what one thinks of the Federal Reserve and the
fiat money system, Yellen's proclamations and the actions of the Federal
Reserve indicate the ailing economy is becoming pronounced enough that even the
pinnacle of Finance Capital is being forced to acknowledge it. The Real Economy
of workers and most of the public is impacting the quasi-fantasy world of
finance and its fictitious games and gambles. The relationship is complicated
but the supposed 'boom' and recovery that Obama and others have tried to
promote has not been based on actual economic production and genuine recovery.
It's been mostly the result of speculation and finance sleight-of-hand.
