3 ms·
> Interest rates had been rock bottom since the 2008 crisis, were already quite low since the 1990s, and are still not very high today. Interest rates dropped
by margalabargala 3y ago
> Interest rates had been rock bottom since the 2008 crisis, were already quite low since the 1990s, and are still not very high today.
Interest rates dropped from previous highs in 1990 and have stayed down. The current interest rate is about equal to the mean and median for the 90s, and is near the peak of interest rates we've seen in that time.
45% of the US population is age 34 or younger. So for nearly half of the country's population, interest rates are nearly as high as they've ever been.
So calling it "not very high" is misleading; you're comparing now to back before nearly half the country was born.
- pyb 3y agoIt's easier to learn from history if we look beyond our own short lives.
- margalabargala 3y agoI agree the past has a lot to teach us. I just disagree with the characterization of current interest rates as "not very high" when higher interest rates happened so long ago nearly half of us weren't alive. It's important to contextualize when we use the past as a learning tool. For example, this article is thinking about how low interest rates affected the tech sector. When interest rates were much higher than they are now, the internet did not yet exist.