The Federal Reserve has cut short-term interest rates again. The goals of this action are to encourage consumers to borrow, but even more important, to induce banks to lend.

For consumers, borrowing comes as naturally as overeating during the holidays, and there's little need for the Fed to provide an incentive to borrow. But lenders have been reluctant to part with cash since summer. Their tight-fistedness has worsened the housing downturn, which has caused lenders to be even more cautious about lending.

For the rest of the story from bankrate.com: More...
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Forbes wasn't impressed with todays cut, titling their news story, 'The Big Rate Cut Letdown'. Stocks plunged today with the extremely modest outcome of todays interest rate drop.

For the rest of the story from Forbes: More...

My thoughts:
Let's hope that this little nudge will help the market a bit. The news agencies just love to keep telling us how bad the market is, but they keep neglecting to point out that Arizona is not in the same situation as most of the rest of the country. Arizona is still the #1 growing state in the nation, not to mention Phoenix is #1 in job opportunities. The news agencies should be saying that NOW is the time to buy in Phoenix, BEFORE it's too late. Don't miss the boat thinking that it may get better to buy in a few months, by then the interest rates may jump back up again.