Rates are not high. 20 years ago they were higher yet - and people are cheering the historically low rates. However if you don’t remember 20 years ago it is easy to think they are high now when in fact they are probably closer to normal.
Do you mean 25 years ago? Twenty years the rate was around 1%. Back in July of 2000 it went up to about 6.5%. But inflation was on the rise at that point. It has sharply declined now.
Inflation may have fallen, but prices haven’t. Additionally, my annual pay is still $12k below where it should be had it only kept up with inflation over the last four years, no raises included.
Anecdotal data isn’t worth much, but I think it’s clear that Americans largely feel the same pressures.
Inflation is the overall increase in prices. If I inflate a tire at 10 PSI/sec and then I slow the inflation to 5 PSI/sec, the tire is still inflating. Saying prices have not fallen is a given since that has not really happened since the Great Depression. If the Fed kept interest rates high despite lowering inflation we eventually would have gotten deflation which is something we absolutely, positively do not want. Wage increases have outpaced price inflation since early 2023. Inflation was greater than wage growth in 2021 and 2022 so your experience sucks but it doesn’t seem to be the norm.
