From Iain Murray and James C. Bennett, the Wall Street Journal:  Contrary to an oft-repeated myth, links between Britain and the United States are not reducible to the personal relationships between presidents and prime ministers. The U.S. and the U.K. have always been each other's primary financial partners.

Are we finally approaching the end game of the Eurozone’s debt crisis? Tuesday’s coordinated central bank action, though welcome, is less a comprehensive solution and more of a reminder of how scared central banks have become.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and IMF managing director Christine Lagarde have publicly chastised political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic for their failure to develop policies that stimulate economic growth. But given the political divisions in Europe and the US, their blunt talk is not likely to lead to policies that restart the rich world’s stalled economic recovery

Four years into the financial crisis, it is becoming increasingly clear that the biggest deficit is not in credit, but credibility. Markets can adjust to a downgrade of global growth, but they cannot cope with a spiralling loss of confidence in leadership and a growing sense that policymakers are disconnected from reality.

"We are flying blind," the FT's editors declared after the Fed cut its federal-funds rate to a range of 0 to 0.25 percent on Tuesday.  Although Bernanke had indicated he was willing to employ unorthodox measures to lift the U.S. economy out of recession, few analysts expected such a dramatic cut. 

On Wednesday, the Fed cut its benchmark rate by half a point to 1 percent, a level reached only once since the 1950s in June 2003.  According to the Financial Times, the move is meant to act as a counter to tightening credit conditions.  The interest rate cut

On Tuesday, the Fed offered up to $540 billion for purchases of short-term debt from money market mutual funds.  Following the current financial crisis, money markets have reduced their short-term lending to banks, causing a drop in short-term funding available to companies.  According to the

Six central banks inclduing the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England have cut interest rates in a coordinated move reports the BBC. The U.S. Federal Reserve has cut rates from 2% to 1.5% and the U.K. from 5% to 4.5%.