> Rates up, rates down, I'm so confused.

You're making a lot of strong assertions for someone who acknowledges they don't understand pretty basic concepts in macroeconomics.

> Would not lower rates mean more consumer spending, thereby injecting more spending and fluidity in the system?

If managing the economics of a country was as simple as recognizing a relationship like, "when we move this number up, then things get better," then we'd be living in a utopia.

If you want to assert that the Fed isn't helping the average citizen, then go ahead and join the large group of people who have been suggesting this the whole time. But if your basis for such an assertion is that you can't comprehend why a decision like raising or lowering interest rates isn't simple, then do yourself a favor and just step away from even trying to understand what is happening here.

> I can't help but shake the feeling that the federal reserve is here for the wealthy, the bankers, and not for the rest of us, and anything they do is ultimately not for our benefit, but for theirs.

Because that is what's happening. Our economy is fractured after years of catering to the wealthy at the expense of the working class (anyone who finances their life via their labor.)

Inflation is bad, we have high inflation due to the energy crisis, the treatment for high inflation is increasing interest rates.