>On the interest rate cut, Doug, I'll share with you that airplane chat
>comment from Stiglitz, the day after Greenspan's (9/29) first 1/4% cut
>(paraphrased): "That won't make any difference at all to profit
>rates or investor expectations anywhere -- it's just to show that
>someone has a hand on the tiller during the storm."
Which is not unimportant. Of course a 1/4 point in itself will do little. "Investors" are little children who can do lots of damage when they have a tantrum. Daddy Greenspan calms them, just like Daddy Rubin. (Wall Street has two daddies?) None of this comforting will address the fundamentals of overcapacity, but it can make the difference between recession and collapse.
I have to pull down Kindelberger and re-read his stuff on the importance of a hegemon in preventing crises from getting out of hand.
DOug