US consumers and businesses are now facing a future of more expensive borrowing

By John W. Diamond, Director of the Center for Public Finance at the Baker Institute, Rice University

From mortgages to auto loans to credit cards, borrowing is set to get even pricier.

But the Federal Reserve’s decision on Sept. 16, 2026, to hike its baseline interest rate also highlighted an increasingly confounding dilemma: It can raise the price of money across the economy, but it can’t determine which sectors are most affected.

That means the rate increase may further slow the weaker parts of the economy, such…

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