The Federal Reserve has now met for September and as expected has lowered the base rate in the US banking system, known as the federal fund rate. This is the first Federal funds rate decrease since the spring of 2020, the start of the Covid crisis. The Fed cut the rate to zero back then to juice the economy. By the time that crisis was deemed to have passed, nearly two years later, inflation was the new crisis. Thus, the Fed recently gave us a round of inflation busting rate increases followed by a frustrating period of holding-them-steady. And now at last a decrease by half a percentage point, or "50 basis points" as monetary economists prefer to say. You, my reader, may have encountered discussions about the Fed funds rate many times over your years as a "news consumer". But it is possible no one has explained its significance to you before. Consider this your lucky day. I will italicize the next seven 'graphs. You'll see why. In general, the ups and d