Will the Federal Reserve ever raise interest rates?

[Josh E.]

For the last year or so people have been talking about a "rising rate environment." Granted, rates were rising towards the end of last year, but the Fed has clearly reversed course on tapering.

I don't believe the Fed can or will ever raise interest rates. Our entire global system is built on a mountain of debt... consumer, corporate, federal, etc. Does anybody really think we are going to pay back $22 trillion of debt?! Of course not! The Fed is just going to inflate the debt away. They'd rather see hyperinflation than deflation. Deflation would make debt repayment quite literally impossible.

My guess is that we'll see negative interest rates before we see the Fed Funds rate at 5%. Real rates (factoring in inflation) are already basically at 0%, but I think they will go much lower. I don't think the Fed will hesitate to implement QE4, as they know rising interest rates will completely decimate the economy. I wouldn't be surprised to see MMT implemented, either. We are certainly heading in that direction!

Nothing was ever fundamentally fixed after 2008. You can't fix structural economic problems with monetary policy. Bernanke simply applied a Band-Aid (QE and low rates) and people levered back up. The house of cards will come crumbling down at some point. In the meantime, I will continue borrowing as much money as possible to purchase income producing real estate. The more inflation the better! My mortgage payment stays the same, and I raise rents to keep pace with inflation.