its a pickle but personally i feel bernacke has nothing to do with it. this pile of poo was inherited and he is holding the poo-bag in his poo hand.
the average consumer is tapped. negative savings rate: credit card debt is more expensive. housing is more expensive. food is more expensive. oil/gas/home heating is more expensive. housing prices going down. stocks, bonds, commodities going down. all ouit of the consumers/investors pockets. somethings gotta give.
housing is on a bubble which imho hasnt officially popped, but its close...
if rates pause - the dollars gonna get taken to the woodshed and china and japan are gonna be pissed. us will stop being able to raise $$ and will have to inflate there way out of this mess...
if rates continue to go up, which they have to in my opinion even to walk the dollar down (dollar losing ground severely relative to other currencies despite past 17 rate hikes) - consumer gets crushed.
smells ugly to me but what do i know
reeks of the 80's....