[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/22/art.wallst.ap.jpg caption=" U.S. flags adorn the facade of the New York Stock Exchange early Tuesday morning, Jan. 22, 2008. U.S. stock futures seesawed Tuesday after the Federal Reserve, responding to a growing financial market crisis, slashed interest rates 0.75 percentage point.."]
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
A messy day on Wall Street today... although things could have been much worse.
The Dow, which was down more than 460 points in early trading, recovered to close about 128 points down.
That's because the Federal Reserve made an emergency three-quarter point cut in interest rates. The Fed said it made the move because of signs that a downturn in the housing market was getting worse, unemployment had started to rise and the overall economy was weakening. That would include things like the credit crunch, our rising debt and the continuing fall of the dollar.
But it's clear what's happening to our economy is reaching far beyond our borders. World markets plunged yesterday on fears that the U.S. may be in a recession. The global sell-off, which continued today, includes some of the worst market drops since 9/11, and represents a loss of more than $5 trillion in value from stock markets this year.
As investors at home and abroad panic, the U.S. is scrambling to come up with a solution. Suddenly Washington has noticed the economy is headed straight south. But whatever they come up with, it's likely to be too little too late. The signs of trouble - housing crisis, credit crunch, falling dollar, etc. - have been around for months.
But it must be serious. The two parties in Washington are actually talking about cooperating to try to find a solution. Nothing like the threat of a depression to remind them who they work for.
Here’s my question to you: How concerned are you about the U.S. economy?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Paul writes:
I won’t be concerned about the economy until food becomes scarce. Too many people living in too many McMansions driving too many Hummers making too much easy money. They're the ones who should be concerned with a serious lifestyle adjustment right around the corner.
Katie writes:
A recession might be final nail in the coffin that devours the Middle Class. With no savings, their 401Ks destroyed and rampant inflation, the middle class will disappear and all that will be left will be a large sector of poor people with no political power and a very small minority of wealthy with all the political power. Could a second American Revolution be in the future then?
Pat writes:
What's scarier than the tanking economy is that Bush is talking the same ole, same ole: give the breaks to businesses and it will all somehow miraculously trickle down to the rest of us. The only trickle down to the middle class is the bill.
Conor writes:
The problem with the economy is a fundamental one. We can't base our currency on nothing and we can't print it when we come up short. Until that changes, recessions will happen every 15 years or so. But I fear this one is going to be as bad as the Great Depression. Therefore I really do have a "Plan B" in my file cabinet. It has the details on my move to Canada.
Theresa from Petal, Mississippi writes:
The feds have been cutting interest rates for years to buck up the so called Bush economy and now the chickens are coming home to roost. Greenspan cut and ran months ago, which should have been the first sign that he couldn't even stomach his hypocrisy anymore. The first Bush had the S&L scam and now we have the sub-prime mortgage scam and it's deja vu all over again...save your confederate money boys cause the south's gonna rise again! Sheesh.