Uncle Ben Does the Two-Step! Annouces Quarter Point cut , Indicates Pause in Future

Fed cuts rates as economy slumps, hoping to stop recession CNBC April 30, 2008
" Chairman Ben Bernanke led a divided Fed, in an 8-2 vote, in slicing its key rate by one-quarter percentage point to 2 percent.
"The substantial easing of monetary policy to date ... should help to promote moderate growth over time and to mitigate risks to economic activity," the Fed said, strongly hinting that more cuts may not be needed.
Although the Fed didn't take another reduction off the table, a growing number of economists believe the central bank is winding down its rate-cutting campaign. Barring another hit to economic growth, they believe rates probably will stay where they are -- perhaps through the rest of this year -- in part because the Federal Reserve is concerned that further cuts could join with galloping energy and food prices and spread inflation dangerously higher.

The Fed's Bender - Commentary on the Uncle Ben's Inflation Bender 2 days before the rate cut from the Wall Street Journal Opinion Forum April 28, 2008
"Eight months into the Fed's most recent rate-cutting spree, the evidence is overwhelming that it has been a major policy mistake. Aggressive rate cutting – taking the fed funds rate to 2.25% from 5.25% last September – has had little effect on the banking crisis it was supposed to ease.

...the Fed's decision to open the general monetary spigots has inspired a global commodity boom unlike any since the 1970s. Oil has climbed to nearly $119 a barrel today from $70 in late August, a 70% increase. Farm and other commodities have seen a similar surge, with corresponding increases in food prices leading to shortages and riots in Egypt and other places, and to rice hoarding even in Southern California.
The popular media explanation is that this price surge is a result of rising global demand, greedy speculators and human profligacy. All of a sudden, without warning, the world is said to be running out of food. After 30 years in intellectual hibernation, Thomas Malthus and the Age of Scarcity are back in style."