I tend to view Jim Cramer as a ego-centric financial actor, but it sounds like we’re on the same page concerning the governments proposed economic stimulus package.

Evidently he agrees that lower interest rates will have a more immediate effect than handing out $600 to individuals.

On Monday the Fed dropped interest rates by a full 0.75% out of the blue. Unprovoked, unannounced, and unexpected, both in scale and timing. Sure, The Street had predicted a rate cut, but no one was predicting three-quarter basis points, and few were predicting an unscheduled cut.

There is something strange about this move.

Big Ben Bernanke has been fairly slow to react to economic data, and has at most taken a half basis-point chunk out of rates at any one time. So why the big bite all of a sudden?

I suspect that there is more to this interest rate …

Today President Bush shed some light on how the government plans to artificially stimulate the economy.

The President said he’s looking for “direct and rapid tax relief” for both consumers and businesses. To achieve this, he plans on implementing an income tax rebate of between $300 and $600 per person, and depending on your circumstances, your rebate may be even bigger.

The white house is looking for a repeat performance from the plan implemented in 2001. It seemed to work back then, however I think the direct effect was a bit over inflated.

But this time it’s different.

We’ve got a different situation this time, with different economic pitfalls pushing the health …

So we’re going into a recession. There are few out there who have not yet accepted this, and the only thing left to debate is whether we’re already in a recession, and how deep the pain will be.

There are several periods in time when, as investors, we’ve been backed into a similar corner. Perhaps like many of you, I’ve never personally been through a recession with a highly vested interest in the outcome, but there are a vast majority that have.

Recession, the ’90s Version

If you were around in the recession during 1990 and into 1991, you might be …

President Bush is dreaming up ways to “stimulate the economy” as you read this. He will present his grand ideas on January 28th at the annual State of the Union speech.

This desire to stimulate the economy goes beyond the Oval Office, however. On Friday, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid wrote a letter to the President seeking cooperation in developing an economic stimulus plan.

As many of you know, I’m a big fan of letting a free market and free economy work. The last thing we want to do is watch the government try to stimulate the economy. Let the …

Today an employment report revealed that seasonally adjusted nonfarm payrolls rose by 18,000 in December, the weakest job growth since August 2003. On top of that, private-sector payrolls fell by 13,000, the first decline in more than four years.

Most economists, as well as the market, were expecting payrolls to increase about 58,000 in December.

I view this as a sign that the economy is starting to falter. Housing is in toilets, unemployment is rising, consumer spending is in limbo, gas prices are high and going higher, and to cap it all off, our credit cards are maxed out (and by “we” I mean Americans in general).

It doesn’t help that …

Well it appears that the effects of our credit crunch are starting to show up in non-essential services.

Sprint is losing subscribers. Big time. Sprint lost 337,000 post-paid subscribers, or customers who sign annual contracts and pay monthly bills. Total subscribership fell 60,000 from the second quarter to 54 million. The competition, however is doing better. AT&T and Verizon Wireless added two million and 1.6 million net subscribers, respectively. Furthermore, Sprint expects subscriber losses to continue into the fourth quarter.

It seems that Sprint’s troubles stem from its reliance on customers with poor credit, the cellphone industry’s version of the …

It’s really no surprise that the Fed dropped rates by another quarter point yesterday. In fact, The Street figured it was a 90% sure thing that it would happen.

So now I can expect my Emigrant Direct savings account rate to drop accordingly, just as companies like Proctor and Gamble are issuing statements that they’re worried about consumer spending in the next few months (and when they indicate publicly they’re worried about it, don’t count on financials being all that great next quarter).

With the second rate cut totaling 0.75% in six weeks, it’s clear the Fed is trying …