Patrick's Notebook

When the US invaded Baghdad in March 2003, ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and his family fled the city, leading to one of the most intense manhunts in history.
That manhunt ended on December 13, 2003, when US forces captured and arrested the disheveled former dictator on the outskirts of his hometown in Tikrit, Iraq — without firing a single shot.

The attack on Julian Assange is the arrow aimed at the heart of the ability to publish the truth. If a journalist can be indicted for espionage for publishing leaked documents that a corrupt government has classified in order to conceal its crimes, the First Amendment is dead.

• 1979 Second oil crisis and Iranian revolution
• 1988 Savings & loan crisis
• 1998 Dot-com bubble
• 2006 Great recession

_______________

_______________

There appears to be a correlation between the artificially low (read manipulated) Federal Reserve fed funds rate and the ever burgeoning Federal debt and deficit. When interest rates are at normalized levels, the debt and deficit remain subdued. But very low interest rates usually associated with a downturn in the economy, promote rapidly increasing debt and deficits. When the US economy is doing well, rates historically have been about 7%. Since 2001 the fed funds rate has averaged 1.5%. So why is the fed funds rate being held so low? Probably because the economy isn’t as strong as is suggested.

__________