Hope you've all been saving

I was in a discussion yesterday (with someone who supports Ron Paul, if that gives you a clue on their economic standpoint), and the conversation ended with nods of agreement that we were, indeed, worse off than a third world country. Forget our economic indicators that put us into the ranks of Argentina in its plunge. Forget that we have a political dynasty upon us, and our civil liberties are being infringed upon every day. Forget all of that. Let's just look at our portfolios.

The Federal Reserve, responding to an international stock sell-off and fears about a possible United States recession, cut its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point on Tuesday. The Federal Open Market Committee lowered its target for the federal funds rate on overnight loans between banks to 3.5 percent, from 4.25 percent. The move was unusual both in its scale and its timing: In recent years, the Fed has only rarely acted between scheduled meetings of the committee, and almost always in increments of one-quarter or one-half point. It was the biggest single cut since October 1984. (NYT front page)

And so we've been socking away our money in mattress companies, and oil companies, and some of us in Chinese soy (thank goodness for contaminated Chinese soy products, or my portfolio would have kicked me out of management), and to what end.... I hope you've all been saving (in euros)...