The Fed's policies effect the economy, but the way CNBC covers it is quite absurd. It is equivalent to the way CNN covered the Malaysian airline crash. The around the clock coverage is tiresome and a waste of your time. I try to find stocks which have great business models which do well in any environment. I won't be selling Colgate no matter what the Fed funds interest rate rises to in 2016. If you make equity decisions based on Fed policies, you're acting illogically. There is no way any small investors will be able to predict Fed policy other than to say it will probably air towards being accommodative. The comments I make on Fed policy predictions usually start with this assumption, but recognize that I spend very little time thinking about what the Fed will do. My investment in Colgate depends on the expansion of the whitening product line expansion more than changes in rates. I listen to the Fed's prognostication of the economy even less than I listen to their decisions on interest rates. The top bankers in the world missed the financial crisis in 2008. They will miss the next one. Of course, not only did they miss the recession; they caused the recession with their policies of low interest rates for too long. They didn't learn from last crash. In fact the rates have been lower for longer. This won't end well. I have always believed it won't end well, but as the years have passed the recession is coming closer and closer. To clarify when I said I don't study the Fed and determine my investments based on its policies, I am saying the Fed has been consistently executing failed policies, so there is nothing to study. The Fed is the main cause of the creation of asset bubbles. Check out this link on the 10 reasons we should end the Fed. http://www.freedomworks.org/content/top-10-reasons-end-feder...