Just because we've been hearing it for a decade, doesn't mean it can't be true. Japan has been in a low interest rate environment for even longer and their eco

Just because we've been hearing it for a decade, doesn't mean it can't be true. Japan has been in a low interest rate environment for even longer and their economy isn't exactly overheating. Maybe low interest rates are the new normal, they've been on an overall downward path for decades so it's not entirely a recent thing. I don't really get raising interest rates to have more ammunition in a recession either. Sure, you have more room to cut later, but raising interest rates itself slows the economy down. Unless the stimulating power you get from cutting is more than slowing effect from raising, it doesn't seem like it gets you anywhere, since you're just digging a deeper hole that you need to get out of. It's another thing if it's in conjunction with fiscal policy (looser fiscal policy, which then leads to raising rates, after which there's more room to cut in a recession). But then I think that's mainly an argument for having different fiscal policy and not just about raising rates. Central bankers seem to be aware that not being able to lower interest rates is going to be problematic in the next recession (along with diminished QE effectiveness etc.). They aren't completely out of options to fight deflation (there's always helicopter money etc.) but we do seem to be in uncharted territory.