Letter: Increase the federal interest rate

Black keyboard - Letter to the Editor

The Federal Reserve Board, The Fed, needs to raise the interest rate an additional 1%.

America has 75,000,000 people who are 60 or older. Many, like myself, are Veterans who served in Korea, Cambodia, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

Today’s mortgage rate is 4 to 5%. When current retirees purchased a home from 1979 to 1990, the mortgage rate was 10+%. In 1981, the rate was 18%! Today’s retirees have worked 47+ years, they paid off large mortgage interest rates. America’s retirees and retired Veterans are the ”Screwed Generation.”

I live in a 55+ community and nobody wants to invest in the risky stock market. Retired Americans have money in savings accounts and CDs. A 1% increase in the interest rate will result in retirees having $75 to $175 more per month. An interest increase of 1% will enable retirees to purchase their necessary prescription medicine, make doctor appointments, buy a newer laptop, purchase family needed essentials, and visit their grandchildren. The Fed needs to decide, Retired Americans or the stock market and its privileged billionaires who have never worked got their hands dirty and never served in the armed forces. A simple 1% raise in the interest rate would improve the life of Americans.

Bob Johnson

Huntley

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