NPR: About That Rate Cut

About That Rate Cut

Today I got scared. I was making family breakfast and listening to WNYC, when the newscaster suddenly skipped a beat. The guy sounded like he was reading from a note someone had scrawled and handed to him on-air.

The news: The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a point, as did other central banks around the world.

Why was that so frightening to me?

Because it shows that the $700 billion bailout isn't enough to fix the economy. It shows that the Federal Reserve's move into buying commercial paper (commercial what?) isn't enough. And it suggests that there aren't that many more stops to pull; the Federal Reserve had already lowered the rate to 2 percent.

I'm not saying that my personal moment of anxiety should be in any way predictive or even diagnostic. I'm just saying, you know?

Laura Conaway

10:12 AM ET | 10- 8-2008 | permalink

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