Queue the haters who still think we're still not in a recession... 3...2...1

We're not in a recession, nothing to see here, please move along.

Didn't they cut the interest over the weekend as well? Sheesh. And its not like any of us are going to see our interest rates lowered as a result.

We aren't in one right now.
We're well beyond a recession.

So how is this going to benefit me, Joe Consumer?

I carry no credit card debt.

I have a reasonable mortgage rate with PMI (still above 80% LTV).

My school loans are consilidated at around 4.5%.

My car loan is 1.9%.

Unless I start buying irresponsibly, the only thing this is going to do is continue to kill my high-yield savings account. Am I missing something?

@ohiomensch: Not this interest rate.

@sleze69: It might keep your bank from going insolvent.

@tme2nsb: All this talk about not being in a recession has me in a depression - a Great Depression.

@sleze69: Are you invested in anything? If so, it's going to affect those companies and their growth...maybe.

@Jaysyn: Hi Dubya.

@sleze69: If you carry no credit card debt, have a reasonable mortgage rate, consilidated school loans and a car loan of 1.9% then you sir, are not "Joe Consumer".

Feel free to take that as either a compliment or an insult. ;)

If this moves fails this will be the relative calm before the markets drop out.

In the first depression there was a period of calm and modest gains fueled by a big investor. Once the big guys were able to pull out most of their cash the market had a steady and strong run to the bottom.

I'm afraid.

@Buran:

Lol, what did you fail Sarcasm 101 in school?

It's not like inflation is a threat anymore. As long as energy remains dirt cheap and the dollar stays high, we can weather a slight downturn in the economy. And if you ever have a temporary money crunch, you can always count on your home equity to get you through a tough time as real estate will always be the safest place to put your money.

Did I mention that I just woke up from a 7 year coma? Now let me check on what's been happening in the rest of the worl....OH MY GOD!!!!!!!

wonder who the big investor will be this time round.
@Techguy1138:

Come on negative interest! I want to be paid to take out a loan!

I thought a recession was 2 straight quarters of negative GDP. Is it now 2 mos?

btw broke back that was funny :)
@backbroken:

So is there a place where I can check (I would like to be paid in Euro's)

@hi:

China?

@sleze69: Nope, you pretty much got it. You're gonna take it up the backside. Me too. Thank god ING doesn't adjust rates til the end of the day. I bought CDs at a higher rate. Problem is, I can't buy long term, cuz I (was) planning on buying a house in the next year.

@sleze69: Sounds pretty good.

But how's the stability of your job?
Think all of those lower-to-middle level, truly hardworking lifelong Bear Stearnies thought they were safe within their positions?

@Jaysyn: that makes sense.

If they lowered my 6.8% student loans a couple points I could afford to bolster the economy.

@EBounding: Yeah. I have a bunch of stock in Sirius. Unless the merger goes through...well...atleast I have a bunch of stock losses I can deduct.

Rates go up, instituions rates go up. Rates go down, eh, we'll lower'em someday....

@sleze69: Should be able to consolidate those school loans down, I'd think. Mine are at 2.25%.

Hmm. I have a few hundred shares of Nvidia, Novell and AMD. I've spent the better half of today trying to decide whether to sell them for about 1.5% more than I bought them for, or weather it out.

If the economy ever swings back up, I'll almost double my investment. If we hit a depression, I am screwed.

It's like deal or no deal, except nobody's cheering.

Earning even LESS now in my high-yield savings. :(

Just keeps getting worse & worse. Good thing I have no debt.

I like the file name on that chart: "lolfuck.jpg". Quite appropriate.

The rate cuts have trickled down to my equity line of credit, which a lot of people have. I also happen to have some I/O adj rate loans that I took out in 2004 and 2005 on investment properties so those payments (which had gone up considerably) have also fallen back down considerably. People chuckle when I mention these loans but I/o loand asn adjustable rate loans are still good choices in some situations. Overall using those loans did wind up saving me quite a bit of money over fixed loans (and when the rates are low, I apply any extra $ to the principle, event hough I dont have to). Just chiming in with a somewhat atypical experience than what we read a lot about...

@Eyebrows McGee: I thought you couldn't consolidate more than once.

@redhelix: Weather Weather Weather. There's nothing worse than a down market to fuel a decision to sell. Don't do it!

@unklegwar: You and me both. I'd love to boost the economy by buying my own place, but that's getting harder as they keep screwing my savings.

@redhelix: stop watching your stocks until the market comes back.

@B: I think it depends on who owns your loans. I consolidated once, and later another company told me that my current loan company "wouldn't release" them. Good rate, though, so I'm not complaining.

So will things get to the point where I can just get a HELOC at a lower rate than my mortgage and pay off my mortgage? Yes, I suppose I should just refinance at that point, but it doesn't sound as fun.

Awesome! I can't wait for the dollar to be totally and utterly worthless. Good job Fed!

Buy gold folks.

Damn it, Damn it, Damn it. Is this like a once a week thing now.

@Beerad:

If you were to see a HELOC at a lower rate than your current mortgage, you'd also see new mortgages at lower rates as well.

Typically, HELOCs are variable, and rest each month. Way less secure than an ARM, not to mention a fixed mortgage.

HELOANs can be fixed - I have no idea of the pros/cons of paying of a 1st mortgage with a 2nd

@sleze69:

There are economic growth benefits when you encourage banks to lend. Responsibly lend. A rising tide lifts all boats*

*unless your industry is to be creatively destroyed.

@redhelix:

Hold 'em imo. *This does not constitute advice*

i think the rate cut are supposed to make people take money out of those money markets/cd's and do something else with it, like , buy real estate?

Anyone want to take bets on what the next bubble will be? My guess is commodities. Gold and oil have both hit prices that don't seem to be supported by market realities.

@Orv: Tulips. Definitely tulips.

Since the economy is cyclical, I predict that just like in the 1950's the next bubble will once again be Bowling.

Fortunately, my bank is still giving me 4.85% APY interest on my checking account. They've been awesome about keeping my interest rate sky-high even with the Fed slashing interest left and right.

Of course, when I opened the account a year ago, the interest was at 5.85%. The bank kept that interest rate, even after the Fed had cut rates numerous times. When my bank finally cut a point off my rate, they sent me a signed letter of apology, saying they held off cutting my rate as long as they could. I'm still very happy with my current rate, I just hope they keep holding off cutting it again as they have before.

I love Emprise Bank.

I'm not really sure how these rate cuts help all the people that seem to be in a world of hurt. If your house is in foreclosure, this rate cut won't help. If you are paying 29.95% on your credit card this won't help. And if you lost your job this certainly won't help. I just think these cuts don't address the fundamental problems with the economy. Not that I have the answer.

Recession watch? How about the fact that we have positive GDP growth, productivity is up, GNP is up, unemployment is below 5%.

This is a period of stagflation. Its not complicated, and to those of you who will say, "a recession is based on the opinions of the individual, not rigid factors," put down the crack pipe. Economists look at certain economic indicators, and they all have to line up for us to be in a recession. An economists opinion should only be used when estimating where something will go (in the case at hand, of course). It is absolutely dumb to think that an economist can determine that we are in a recession without even taking a look at certain important economic numbers.