< DISCLAIMER >
These are merely some of my thoughts...I'm not an economist.

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>Hmmm... Well, first of all, thanks for your reply. Now, this information seems to pose at least as many questions as it answers!
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I suspected it would, I'm afraid I don't have many answers :)

>For instance: If lowering the Fed rate tends to make the economy grow, would that make the interest rates go up again, in the long term?

I suppose it would. But in the long term, if the economy was growing (or there is inflation?) the Fed would raise their rate back up anyway, in an attempt to slow it back down to a more reasonable growth rate.

> Did the lowering of the Fed rate affect - perhaps indirectly - most other countries, who are now "following suit"?

Good question...

>What caused the economic slowdown in the first place? Is the tendency showing signs of reversal?

First of all, your use of "slowdown" is accurate, as the economy as a whole didn't shrink very much. As a matter of fact, I believe there was actually only 2 quarters of real recession (and a recession is often defined as 2 consecutive quarters of negative economic growth).

As far as the causes, I'm sure there are many. The dot com joke probably was a factor, and 9/11 didn't help matters. Things seems to be holding steady right now; I think there is small economic growth.

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>Too many questions, some of them quite tricky, I know!
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