With the U.S. economy hot and global growth accelerating, the issue of Fed tightening has become the conceptual equivalent of pondering a possible California earthquake. It's going to happen, but probably not tomorrow, and participants would rather not think about it.
The Fed is selling us a bill of goods. The Fed has plenty of evidence that the economy is boiling. They don't care. 'Let it boil,' they say.
The Fed has identified consumer confidence as the most important concept right now. They are extremely worried that the problems in the stock market and the weakness in the manufacturing sector will lead to pessimism and lower spending.