As the Fed plans to ‘raise and hold,’ new projections may show the cost

The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee meets on Dec. 13-14, capping a volatile year that saw the central bank respond to the fastest outbreak of inflation since the 1980s with the fastest increase in interest rates since then to try to offset it. That aggressive response sent a shock through the financial system that at one stage erased nearly $12 trillion of U.S. stock market value and more recently pushed home mortgages rates to 7% for a population used to cheap money.