This is

the B. S. I and the world. I'm John Batcher. The American Economy at Christmas.

I welcome Jean Marks, the Small Business columnist for the Guardian newspaper, UK and US Edition,

also our hometown newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirey writes for the Hill, he writes for a number

of distinguished publications.

We go now to the big story, the statement by the Federal

Reserve in these last hours that the beginning is behind us, the 11 rate hikes since the

spring of 22 to in some fashion answer the

inflation that was coming from supply chain problems from the recovery of the pandemic

from the

money distributed by the US government because people were not working.

All of that caused inflation in part,

so to the spending by Congress.

And the Federal Reserve's answer was to raise interest rates

in the sharpest and longest fashion in memory, to my understanding. The Federal Reserve

now says that's over. Teen, over. A very good evening to you.

We all sighed.

However, what we now know is that the worst is behind us, but we don't know if the best is coming.

Retail sales, for example, 0.3% in November. That may be a good

number. It may be something that will strengthen in time. It's impossible to tell.

Also the C. P. P. I increased 0.1%. It's impossible to tell also the

CPI increased 0.1% in November

...