Down Down Down

Down 0.5%. The feds cut the rate from 1.5% to 1%. That's a reduction of a third. It's now as low as it was in 2003 and 2004 at the end of the 2000-2001 recession.

Their mandate is to control inflation but I sense they did this to help the economy. So much help and still the reports are that money is tighter than ever, housing is in the dumpster, and the stock market is undergoing a 6.0 earthquake.

Of course the housing mess is painful. The foreclosures are all over the place. In general, so many are so over extended. Houses are not worth what is owed on them.

The economy is like a diet and exercise program. No pain, no gain. All the expensive fixes may soften the pain but it can also lengthen the process.

I think hindsight will show similar effects as back in the 1930s. If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. FDR's programs lengthened the big one and set us on the path to big government and masses dependent upon Uncle Sam for their existence.

I prefer John McCain's promise to get government out of the way of our personal progress.

'til later