the fed is presently stuck between a rock, a hard place, and a cliff.
the rock is fighting inflation
the hard place is rescuing housing before it severly damages the economy
the cliff is that a premature drop in rates (heck, probably any drop in rates) will ensure and even harder drop in our continuing sinking dollar.
they cannot get around the rock, and trying to get off the hard place means jumping off the cliff.
ahh... noting like a bubble based economy, eh?