Rant #2,918: Money Honey

Look, I am no economist, and I don’t clearly understand the granular reasons why the state of our economy goes up and down like it does.
 
But can someone clearly explain to me, in layman's terms, how the Federal Reserve raising the interest rate by 0.75 percent benefits me and the rest of the middle class?
 
We know that the middle class is the backbone of our country, since most of us fall into that economic category.
 
Since any economic changes don’t necessarily impact the wealthy, simply because they have the financial wherewithal to withstand any fluctuations, and since the poor can’t possibly bear the brunt of any such changes, it falls on the middle class to make this economy right … and just how does an interest rate increase do that?
 
I don’t understand it, do you?
 
An increase in the interest rate is put in place to curb spending, and head off a recession that is probably coming anyway, with or without such an increase.
 
But how does such an increase benefit the middle class?
 
It seems to be that if you get an extra 0.75 percent tacked onto your major purchases, it cannot help at all, because it takes more money out of your pocketbook.
 
And if that is true, then the Feds are basically telling the middle class to not buy homes, not buy cars, not get a new credit card, and not to act like the middle class has done since the beginning of time.
 
It seems more like a punishment to the middle class for the spending that this segment of the population does on a regular basis.
 
We are now being told to make a budget, and handle our money in a more responsible way, but I ask you, how can you make a budget if gas prices go up on a daily basis?
 
Since this hike doesn’t really affect the rich or the poor, it appears to me that the middle class is being dumped on, and being blamed for the financial purgatory that we are in right now …
 
We are being punished with this rate hike, and that is just so wrong.
 
Why does the middle class bear the brunt of everything, while Washington devises ways to make us suffer even more than we are already doing?
 
And what about those on a fixed income, like yours truly?
 
How does someone like me deal with something like this?
 
Thank goodness I have that little side job; without it, I would be stuck in quicksand, with no way to get out.
 
Sure, I get Social Security, but that payment is taxed, it has been cut to pay for increases in Medicare costs—and when is that going to be fixed now that we are not paying for that miracle Alzheimer’s Disease drug anymore?—and many people in my position are deciding between paying rent and eating.
 
The Fed’s Hail Mary appears to be the antidote to get the stock market back on track, something I also admit not to clearly understand, but getting back to my original query, how does a rate hike benefit the middle class?
 
The only benefit that I can figure out is that it gives us even more fuel to our already burning fire to get rid of certain politicians come the November elections.
 
Yes, the Feds are not being voted on, but the ruling administration does appoint people to the Reserve, so common folk like us can give those in power something to think about by getting rid of certain politicians that we can vote on come Election Day.
 
Honestly, I have neve3r heard so many excuses in my life about why our economy is so poor, why people can’t get products that they want and need, and why we are being gassed at the gas station, and I don’t see much being done to make things better for us on any level.
 
So I guess the thinking is that since nothing is being done at any level to fix things, just dump on the middle class and penalize them for being the middle class and wanting things like a new house or a new car … or even having the audacity to want to fill up the cars that they do already own with gas.
 
The only way for the middle class to speak out on this is at the polling places come November, and I hope that people don’t forget this when they make their choices on Election Day.
 
What we have now cannot continue, because it will lead to a recession, and the next step after a recession is a depression, and we don’t want that, do we?
 
To penalize the middle class for being the middle class is just so wrong, just so idiotic,, that it at least touches on the realm of being anti-American.
 
Adding points onto the interest rate—with promises of more points being added on in the near future—doesn’t corral spending, it simply puts a penalty on the purchases we do make …
 
And most importantly, it tarnishes the American Dream.
 
How can that benefit anyone?
 
Inquiring minds want to know.