“High“ or “low”, if they are effectively locked in, the rates are just the rates. There is really no way that negative rates won’t impact the man in the street and his savings choices kill, and institutions who make high-risk (junk bond) investments will be inadequately rewarded for their effort. This has become politics or maybe it always was. Talk of eventual “normalization” is just that. The Fed’s rationalization can already be found in Powell’s statements if you look for it. A “profile in courage“ is nowhere to be seen.