It's interesting that a few mainstream commentators have mentioned that many foreign economies depend on the gloriously indebted U.S. consumers and should they stop spending, it could spell trouble. As I seem to remember, the last time Greenspan lowered rates was in Oct. '98 in response to the Asian/Russian etc. crises and the following hikes were made in part to counteract the Fall of '98 lowerings. Somewhat related, dollar-pegged Argentina is about to embark on some old-style pump-priming public works spending.