by Paul A. London
The Hill
The Federal Reserve announced on June 12 that it is not lowering interest rates at this time. It is standing pat, although inflation is falling, consumers are limiting purchases, and big national chains are cutting prices for hundreds of products. The risk now is recession, but that is not the way the Fed sees it.
This is not the first time in U.S. history that policymakers have opted to make borrowing more expensive, risking recessions as a result. Such restrictive credit policies prevailed with disastrous effects in the 1830s, the 1870s, the 1890s, during the Great Depression from 1929 into 1939 and in the 1980s.