Excessive Spending - Rose-Colored Glasses

The government proclaims a robust economy. The Fed raises the prime rate to keep things under control. Meanwhile, in the real world:

The Current Account Deficit and the extreme shift to imported goods has weakened the U.S. currency and the effects are being exacerbated by the Fed's actions -

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell as a jump in prices for imported goods and a drop in the dollar raised concern inflation will accelerate. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index headed for its biggest weekly loss since October.

The government report showing April import prices rose the most in seven months followed a surge in oil and metals prices this week and the 16th straight interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve.

Remember, if it costs more because we have a stupid approach to imports, it will cost even more because we have an illogical approach to interest rates.

Well, think about it. All of the "market force" experts say let the marketplace handle itself. They don't say, "Let the marketplace be dominated by guesses from the Federal Reserve about what the marketplace is doing."

The Federal Reserve seemed content with the situation as long as cheap imports (supported by manipulated Chinese currency) kept prices artificially low, but the threat of a market correction to reflect untenable imbalances send the Fed into spasms of reactive rate hikes... a double blow to the economy. If imports and oil prices are going up too fast, let the consumers fix it by buying less (which they are) or manufacturers fix it by not buying imports (which they can).

No, the Fed needs to "fix" things by itself... like drawing blood from a bleeding man.