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About Crash Puck
The US Federal Reserve raised the effective federal funds rate by 0.25% to a range of 3.75%-4% on Wednesday, representing its first rate hike in three years as the economy grapples with sticky inflation, record-high energy prices and rising bond rates with no end in sight to the ongoing war with Iran that kicked off in February.
Investors began 2026 expecting multiple rate cuts, which tend to juice capital markets and spur dealmaking activity. But on 28 February things changed quickly after joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran largely curtailed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital Middle East waterway where some 20% of the world’s oil transited before the conflict began.
Several factors weighed heavily on the decision to raise rates. The average nationwide gas price now is $4.36 compared to $3.18 a year ago, per AAA, and the average diesel price of $6.31 is a record. Brent crude oil has crested over $100 per barrel compared to about $68 a year ago. Inflation was 3.4% in August, compared to 2.9% last year. And US 10-, 20- and 30-year Treasuries have reached their highest rates in decades.
About Crash Puck
Beyond raising the age limit to 21, Van Dijk called for a complete reversal of the Netherlands’ 2021 online gambling legalisation, which helped establish a reasonably mature legal gambling market for the sector, until tighter restrictions for players, and increased taxes, struck licensed operators in recent years.
Van Dijk also voiced his opinion that all gambling advertising should be banned, including for lotteries and land-based casinos.
He also questioned the government’s involvement with the state-owned entities Holland Casino and Nederlandse Loterij, especially in its assessment on how to limit gambling harms.
About Crash Puck
Humor is inherently subjective, but the only plausible reason to dismiss Carrot Top after seeing his show live isn’t a distaste for kitsch—it’s being easily offended.
Carrot Top deserves credit not only for his sharp punchlines, but for never growing bitter about becoming a punchline himself. He has always leaned into the jokes made at his expense. That self-awareness is precisely why his cameo in the end-credits photo collage of The Hangover landed so brilliantly.
If you dismiss Carrot Top, it almost certainly means one thing: Like us, you judged his act before seeing it. Giving the show a chance proves his stagecraft vastly funnier than any punchline ever used to dismiss it.
