What do you mean by frustrating? In my memory of 2008, there was a real sense of panic, far beyond anything we're seeing right now. Before it was evident things had gone really wrong, plenty of people had a sense that something had to give—housing was going crazy, and I remember making $37k and qualifying for mortgages on NYC apartments—but inflation was <3% and unemployment was low.
While I think we're headed for a whole new kind of disaster (albeit one I can't predict—unlike 2008, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with financing of housing, but I can't see how these prices are sustainable), I'm not sure it'll be 2008-level doom. The frustration, I think, comes from a real sense of the toll of inflation coupled with annoyance, sometimes unarticulated, that we could have put the breaks on by raising interest rates more aggressively long ago, circa 2015-2016, when the stock market started going crazy.
I think the hesitation was there was a minor economic slowdown around that time and inflation was still flat, so it is unclear raising rates would have been the right call.
Its easy to see there is a problem now, but I don't believe anyone knows what amount was caused by the pandemic. Despite gripes everywhere, I actually think Fed policy has been very reasonable given the circumstances. If not for the pandemic, steady rate hikes were already happening and set to continue.
I agree with this. Basically the fed 'rescued' the system in 2008 by injecting capital into the system.
However, this 'rescue' became the norm and they decided to continue easy money policy for the next 14-years. Now, here we are! This has been a concern for a long time now.
What is fundamentally concerning about a central bank injecting capital into the system? If anything, you could say the same thing about fiat currency and fractional reserve banking as a whole. Money comes from nowhere!
While I think we're headed for a whole new kind of disaster (albeit one I can't predict—unlike 2008, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with financing of housing, but I can't see how these prices are sustainable), I'm not sure it'll be 2008-level doom. The frustration, I think, comes from a real sense of the toll of inflation coupled with annoyance, sometimes unarticulated, that we could have put the breaks on by raising interest rates more aggressively long ago, circa 2015-2016, when the stock market started going crazy.