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Comment by bjourne | Hacker News Reader

Isn't there "midterm" elections coming up in two months in the US? Aren't moves like spiking the rent to induce mass unemployment likely to benefit the Republican party? It can't be a winning strategy.

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The federal reserve is independent from government. This has nothing to do with any political party.

If that's true, why did the fed stop hiking rates in 2019?

This article reports why: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/20/fed-leaves-rates-unchanged.h...

Fed chair’s job was threatened and the norm was broken (for Rs).

That's a really bold statement, {{citation needed}} from reliable source.

> It can't be a winning strategy.

The Fed is independent in the sense that monetary policy and related decisions are made autonomously and are not subject to approval by the federal government. However, its governors are appointed by the President and must be confirmed by Congress. (citation: investopedia)

In parallel, when you're running the government, ideally you're running for the long-term well being of the country...

The former president threatened the fed chair to keep rates low. This president begs for “L”s over norms that no longer exist.

If you have to resort to "threatening" or "begging", isn't that a strong indicator of independence?

You misunderstood, figuratively begging by letting the Fed to MBNA’s bidding.

Nominally independent but in practice the government still exercises a lot of power over fiscal policy. Thus, it is odd that the government has not exercised its power despite the upcoming election. Likely, lots of politicians will lose their jobs because the people will blame them for the bad economy.

Not sure how many other options the Fed has to keep inflation under control. They've basically forgone any efforts to keep unemployment low and switched entirely to controlling inflation. It is a critical moment for them—I don't think any amount of complaining from politicians is going to change that.

My father, in the 1970's, took an adjustable rate mortgage because he thought there was no way they would keep hiking rates with a presidential election coming. However, Volcker and company hiked the rates anyway (to levels far higher than today's), and he took a financial beating on his house payment.

I'm sure the Democrats are not crazy about higher interest rates (although inflation is also bad politically), but they don't have control of the Fed, at least not in the short term.

Interest rates are effectively set by the federal reserve which is a non-partisan institution that doesn't answer to congress or the president, at least that's the idea.

The US is not the only country raising interest rates. It's happening in developed countries worldwide.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/central-banks-raise-r...

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