Jennifer Yousfi in Money Morning gives some background and examines strategies for recession proof investing:

U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers cut the benchmark interest rate by less-than-expected three-quarters of a percentage point at their last meeting, a move that was designed to energize a badly flagging economy without causing inflation to spike or exacerbating the greenback’s decline.

When central bank policymakers reduced the key Federal Funds rate from 3% to 2.25% on March 18, it was the sixth time in seven months the closely watched benchmark had been reduced. Many analysts had been expecting a reduction of a percentage point – or even more – as such recent events as the near-collapse and subsequent Fed-led bailout of U.S. investment bank The Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. (BSC) stoked fears that the U.S. financial system was ready to seize up.

The policymaking Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has now cut the Fed Funds rate six times and slashed the Discount Rate for direct loans to banks eight times since August, when the subprime mortgage market collapsed and created a global credit crisis.

While the FOMC made it clear that inflation has grown as a concern, it still says that economic worries remain the biggest problem and emphasized that it was ready to act again if need be.

“Today’s policy action, combined with those taken earlier, including measures to bolster market liquidity, should help to promote moderate growth over time and to mitigate the risks to economic activity,” the FOMC said in its March 18th statement. “However, downside risks to growth remain. The committee will act in a timely manner as need to promote sustainable economic growth and price stability.”

But while the Fed is definitely looking to do what it can to avoid a contraction in the U.S. economy, central bank Chairman Ben S. Bernanke faces a second – equally troubling – challenge. And no matter which route he chooses to take, the solution to one problem will exacerbate the second.

For that reason alone, the Fed has demonstrated some caution with regards to interest-rate reductions.

During the 1970s, the United States was afflicted with stagflation – crippling inflation coupled with stagnant economic growth and high unemployment. Until stagflation appeared, economists believed it to be an almost-impossible combination. Today, investors of a certain age remember the high fuel costs and long gas lines – along with the headlines about rising unemployment and a stalled U.S. economy that refused to be jump-started.

Read on here for Jennifer’s downturn strategy: the best investments in a recession.