Fed saves us from ourselves… details of the historic FOMC decision… Dan Amoss and James Turk on the implications of 0% interest rates… Dollar gets slammed… how long until the greenback carry trade? Most companies planning on dismal pay raises this year… how you can stay on top in 2009… So what if Madoff fleeced us for $50 billion? Pennies compared with this long-running scheme… Plus, a new survey the Big Three definitely won’t want to read

Dollar plunges to 13-1/2 year trough vs yen, below 88… European, U.S. government debt touch fresh historic lows… Morgan Stanley’s, PNB Paribas’ losses lead stocks lower… Oil slips; OPEC’s record cut doesn’t offset demand slide

As recession fears deepened in the US in March, calls for a more aggressive Fed rate cut policy came from all angles (though Wall Street could be heard above most).

Now, as oil prices break though ceilings faster than they can be rebuilt and the US inflation rate rises, the Fed’s frenzied rate cuts are coming under closer scrutiny.

“Investors who are looking to the Fed for guidance are driving with their rearview mirrors,” says Keith Fitz Gerald in Money Morning.

Crude oil prices tumbled today following the announcement by the Federal Reserve on interest rates.

Earlier today the Federal Reserve said it would lower interest rates by a quarter percentage point.

CNN reports: “US light crude for June delivery fell $2.17 cents to settle at $113.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Just before the central bank’s announcement, oil was 93 cents lower at $114.70 a barrel.

All eyes are on Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve today, the big question being: Will there be another Fed rate cut?

Just about everyone is predicting another rate cut, but will this rate cut be the last for a while?

CNN says “trading in futures markets predicts the Fed will cut its key fed funds overnight lending target by a quarter-point, to 2%, and hold the line there in coming months.”

The Fed could use “proposed new regulatory powers to try to stop credit and asset market excesses from reaching the point where they threaten economic stability,” reports the Financial Times.

According to the paper: “David Nason, assistant secretary for financial institutions, said the Fed could even use its proposed ‘macro-prudential’ authority to order banks, hedge funds and other entities to curtail strategies that put financial stability at risk.”