This pushback named explicitly the ridiculous negative “real” interest rates, with the effective federal funds (EFFR) rate at 0.08% before today, and CPI inflation raging at 7.9%, making it the most negative “real” EFFR ever, at -7.8% before today, and about -7.55% going forward.

In the data that goes back to the 1950s, there were only two occasions when CPI inflation shot through 7.9% on their way up: October 1973, when the EFFR was 10.8%; and August 1978, when the EFFR was 8.0%. After the rate hike today, the EFFR is going to be around 0.33%!

These record negative interest rates constitute a record amount of fuel that the Fed is still pumping on the raging inflation fire, and today’s rate hike was way too little, and way too late. Note the tiny uptick in the EFFR going forward, compared to the spike in CPI:

Gazillion Miles Behind the Curve, the Fed Gets Hawkish: More Rate Hikes, “Faster and Much Sooner” Quantitative Tightening | Wolf Street