I. The history of the overnight Federal Funds rate from 1954 through 2022 is shown in the chart below. The sixty-eight year average: 4.62%. The latest update for March 2024: 5.33%.
Source: Fred.stlouisfed.org/series/fedfunds
II. Interest payments on US Treasury debt surpasses a trillion dollars in 2023. The total interest paid last year was $1,062 billion.
From the Visual Capitalist article: “The cost of paying for America’s national debt crossed the $1 trillion dollar mark in 2023, driven by high interest rates and a record $34 trillion mountain of debt. . . As debt payments continue to soar, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that debt servicing costs surpassed defense spending for the first time ever this year.”
Learning to Say Goodbye
A final selection from He Gets Us campaign. The use of stories to communicate values.