on Friday. The upshot is that overall consumer spending has remained buoyant in recent months, but retail sales have barely budged, she said.
"Expect rates to dampen economic activity and to create real stress in the credit markets, corporate credit market especially," Pomboy said. "Nothing I look at suggests that," Pomboy said. She pointed to the pressure on consumer spending, the limited supply of labor, and striking workers raising companies' costs by driving up wages and securing settlements. the bursting of an"everything bubble" could tank stocks by 30% and cause a 2008-style economic collapse.
"The Federal Reserve is really slowing down the economy, it has its foot on the brakes," Robert Heller, a former Fed governor,However, the central bank's tighter monetary policy has been offset by vast amounts of government expenditure, the retired banker and economics professor noted.