Also important to note: 30 percent of US firms are zombie firms

A zombie firm is one that only makes enough money to service their debt but not to pay it down, and so are stuck staggering onward in an undead fashion. During the period in which there was 'free money' (low interest rates), these companies could go on as their debt repayments were not too harsh, and some could even continue borrowing more credit to use for servicing previous debt.

If this sounds insane that's because it is. Estimates are that a third of US firms rely on essentially a quicksand base of debt, and their profitability is not growing enough to cover their debts. The federal reserve, as the guardians of American capital and firm believers in the Philips curve, recognise the interest rate as the only tool available to guide the economy.

Meaning they are caught between keeping rates too low to properly deal with the debt bubble, or to raise them high enough to cause a shock that will wipe out much of the debt and much of the economy with it. For now it seems that a total crash is being avoided, but for how long who knows