There are massive distortions in the economy right now (Distortion of true price discovery and true rates, significantly repressed long term bond rates, perpetually low savings and investment returns outside of equities and assets, etc) not to mention the malinvestment and misallocation of resources it encourages in many ways. I don't think ZIRP was ever intended to go this long, it's been way too many years. And yes, if DC cuts the spending, the fed won't have to monetize it either - both are key.

The sooner the fed tapers and normalizes, the sooner the distortions will revert and the market can determine what it should. It will be a painful, unpleasant correction, particularly to over leveraged entities and all those with heavy debt burdens. But that's just the nature of the beast after running ZIRP for so long, no getting around it, it'll be a rough correction for sure. And you're right, they need to normalize and let the market work without all the government intervention and artificial forces.