Outside the Box: Fed’s ‘golden handcuffs’: Homeowners locked into low mortgage rates don’t want to sell

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Conventional wisdom dictates that U.S. inflation will continue to decline as the Federal Reserve marches forward with additional interest-rate hikes. This action, which makes loans more expensive for businesses and consumers, should lead to less spending, less consumption and higher unemployment.

Or at least that’s Econ 101. Yet  both consumers and investors have acclimated to the current market environment. Moreover the key driver of inflation — housing — cannot be adequately contained through the Federal Reserve’s usual…