As the Fed Raises Interest Rates, People Will Lose Jobs and Democrats Will Lose Elections
The Federal Reserve has signaled that it will further raise interest rates this month, increasing the chances of a recession that will hurt average people. In response, most of the Democratic Party establishment are twiddling their thumbs.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during a Fed Listens event in Washington, DC, on September 23, 2022. (Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Federal Reserve, as part of a broader campaign by Republican board chairman Jerome Powell to “get wages down,” is expected to increase interest rates again by 0.75 percentage points at its meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Doing so would put even more strain on workers and reduce consumer confidence just days before Americans head to the polls — and potentially help Powell’s GOP colleagues win back control of Congress.
While a small group of Democratic senators is pushing the Federal Reserve not to further wreck the economy one week before the midterm elections, party leaders remain silent on the matter — suggesting that top Democrats are more eager to maintain good relations with powerful corporations and the ultrarich than preserve their congressional majorities.
The Fed has repeatedly hiked interest rates to constrict wages and therefore supposedly help ease inflation. But that relief hasn’t happened, largely because the primary driver of the higher costs Americans are experiencing is markups: companies, particularly those with market power, are raising prices because they can.
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