When are the left leaning wackos going to realize that a great deal of our economic problems stem from their instance on going green,and getting away from oil.
Know why food is higher.Ethanol!Corn prices have been driven way up by this insane effort to make a product that uses almost as much energy to produce as it makes.The price of corn affects the cost of meat,dairy products etc.
oil is the energy of the future until we can get some nukes on-line(10 years or more if we start now) .In the meantime drill for oil where we can controll it,like maybe real close to the Chinese rigs in the Gulf

Kudos to David. Get the enviromentalists out of the way and exploit nuclear energy. It is safe, clean and efficient. Get out of Middle East oil dependence.
Al Dee

1% is a bad message, granted. It's also necessary. It's the only way to reopen the pipeline that's been driving the economy- refinanced home equity. It's a false source, money created by inflated value-- but the only one we've got. Hell of a note, huh? Jobs aren't going to drive a recovery- they've been outsourced and gone offshore. Jobs are shrinking, a federal "stimulus" package of $600 income tax rebates isn't going to put enough energy into consumer-level channels, oil/energy, food, and health care / pharmaceuticals are siphoning the basic consumer cash stream into tighter, higher corporate channels where it doesn't circulate as broadly. 1% will still take 6 months to take effect, even if banks do manage to streamline their process and pump money into the mortgage market. I can't see any other source that will provide the transfusion needed. The outlook is not good, sort of a near-perfect economic storm coming on fast. By the time it's done, unless somehow a major infusion of money is accomplished at the consumer level, most middle-class Americans will be just another second-class suburb in the world economy.

Good luck. I hope you find your way through.

I agree, not too fast. A 1% decrease is enough for right now. More gradually later. IncomeTax decreases would be very helpful also.

Why should I be willing to subsidize people who have lived beyond their means by receiving lower interest rates on my savings.

Need a new tax system. The one we use is obsolete and very confusing and expensive for the average taxpayer. How about a National Federal Sales Tax with a large exemption amount for people who make $100k or less per year. The tax rate would be much lower than it is now. Presently we pay 45% when you include social security, medicare and the corporate tax rate of 15% [the lowest starting rate]. May hear your comments?.

It's getting to be time to start paying for the war. Just like the stagflation era under Jimmy Carter, the US economy will soon be paying for the Iraqi war under the next President. The only good news is that it should not be as bad as having to pay for the loss in Vietnam. There is a difference between making inefficient internal choices in an economy and simply loosing the money externally. What we really need is for some blogger who can make educated guesses to figure out just what it will take to pay for the Iraqi War.

A surprise rate cut isn't the issue. Whether or not it's now or next week is immaterial. The problem is that the market has widely factored in the rate cut and the market is still falling. Also, even if we get a 75 basis point cut, it won't show up in the economy for some time. We need a more inventive and aggressive economic stimulus package to help in the shorter term. There is a lot of fear in the market and it still hasn't reached capitulation levels. That means more pain ahead.

I think most likely there will be emergency rate cut this week and may be today(22 january 08). The reason is Dow future and S&P future down a lot and it is worst since the 911. All the Asia market is bleeding hard today(Hang Seng down > 2000, Australia down > 7% Japan down and korea down 5%). Investors do not have patient to wait until 30 Jan 08. Only Ben Bernanke (the Superman) can save the world now. But, I might be wrong.