Interest Rates and Consumer Spending

At least one other source understands what I have been saying in recent posts about higher interest rates themselves being inflationary, and having a negative effect on consumers’ finances.  In this post, we see that not only are people using credit cards more to buy things, but the interest rates they are paying on credit card balances has exploded upward.  No matter how rosy a picture people try to paint, this is real pain for the average consumer and if you are spending more on interest, you are going to be spending less on other things.  (ZH Post)