Fed Makes Emergency Rate Cut

Apparently, markets all over the world tanked big time yesterday. The U.S. market was spared the slaughter because Wall Street was closed observing MLK. But most experts predict the U.S. market will take an equally devastating plunge.

I guess our government isn't going to wait around and do nothing during the ensuing economic carnage, cutting both the federal fund rate and the discount rate by .75%. The rate cut will lower a variety of interest rates, including home mortgages and credit cards.

There's also talk around Washington, on the part of both Democrats and Republicans, of issuing rebates to Americans to help stymie the recession we're either in, or due to experience. But in a multi-trillion dollar economy, some experts point out that a few billion dollars in tax rebates is unlikely to address the larger problems the economy is experiencing, namely the increasing cost of oil and the home mortgage bankruptcy crisis.