Another big thank you to Mervyn. A (rare) man of integrity and sound judgement when it really matters.

I hope the gentleman on the MPC who was calling for interest rates to be increased only 3 months ago will quietly resign his position. His lack of economic understanding was truly jaw dropping.

Alistair Nicholls, Manchester, UK

Colin of Shrewsbury; you are so right. Those of us who have a lot of savings for our old age will now see the value of our capital decreasing especially when the interest amount paid is lowered and then the interest balance paid is still assessed for income tax as well.

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

Yes, Anatole and we are earning less for our money too.

Paul, Coventry,

deflation, at least of house prices, is the only hope for the multitude excluded from home ownership by the happy days approach to house price inflation.

David Giles, southampton,

There you go. DEBT IS KING.

No rewards and thrift - rewards only the the feckless and irresponsible.

Glad I left the UK. I would hate to be in UK on judgement day when this debt needs to be paid back.

Gareth Jones, Dusseldorf, Germany

Stupid, stupid, stupid. This way is to reward spendthrifts while those of us with savings are punished. I am going to withdraw my savings from my UK bank and put it into commodities.

Barquentine, Solihull,

And for those of us who were financially temperate, who did not overstretch ourselves, who saved for pensions and saved in general, we have our pensions savaged and our saving hits.

What is the lesson in this? Spend, spend, spend, and the government will pick up the pieces, it would seem.

Jeremy Poynton, Frome, United Kingdom

Why on earth is someone from another country volunteering for Barack Obama's campaign?

No matter how legal it is, there is something just not quite right about that.

Mike, California, USA

As Milton Friedman said .... deflation can be fought against by "dropping money out of a helicopter" ! ... and so we must.

Paul, Ashford, UK

Sorry, but looking at the UK from abroad cheering for cheaper debt only further demonstrates what a bankrupt country Britain has become. No savings and lots of debt does not make you rich, it makes you poor. Continuing the illusion of a "feel good" factor based on spending borrowed £ if disastrous.

KR, Cap Ferrat, FRANCE

the interest rate to aid recovery of the economy is only good as long as it is not left too low for too long (which was the failure after dotcom bubble, this rate should be rising again within a year, as to savers, if this averts a deeper recession now would be a good time to purchase shares?

Ben, folkestone , uk

Does anyone know when we will finally benefit from this?!Surely further regulations have to be put in place to force the banks actually help their customers?! How can the two companies which have been bailed out this year state that the reduction in rate will not be passed on to their customers?

Matthew Patterson, Oldham, England.

Sorry, but out here in the real world there are many SAVERS. The most likely scenario is that Labour will first destroy returns on savings (as it has now done - I can't see a net return of more tban 1.5%) and then let inflation rip, thus slicing great chunks off their value. Why is this good?

Colin, shrewsbury,

The cut is great news for small businesses and workers with mortgages. Rates need to go even lower yet to make sure we dont massive unemployment. The government has to do its bit by delaying leglislation that adds costs to business such as the extra holiday allowance.

Andrew Piercy, London, UK

You can not simply manage an economy with monetary policies alone. Monetary policy should go hand in hand with fiscal policy inorder to achieve the right balance for the economy. The risks here will be like trying to fly an airplane using the engines alone for flight control. This not sustainable.

Riyad Al-Alawi, London, England

So will this "cheap money" be used to invest in productive capital, securing higher growth in the future, or will it mostly be used to buy imported goods and to inflate non productive assets like housing? Based on the direction of the UK economy over the last few years I fear it will be the latter.

Ted, London, UK

The MPC should have been ahead of the curve & started much earlier to look beyond backward-looking inflation data. Remember the pound was at $2 in Jan so it has plunged anyway. The damage done is not so easily remedied with this late 'panic' move. Reputation for competence is not so easily won back.

Robert Cookson, Milton Keynes, UK

Err...Japan has had a low interest policy for years. That has not helped that country, so why will this when the UK does not even have the benefit of their huge saving base.

Carl, Paphos , Cyprus

Won't lower base rates prove problematic for this (prudent ) government when trying to borrow to see us through the coming downturn (because they didn't save enough through the boom times) Or am I missing something?

Roger S., Yateley, UK

What? WHAT?!??!? 1% interest rates are a good thing?!?! Have you forgotten HOW we got to this situation in the first place? US interest rates of 1% following the dotcom bubble and a craze for accruing debt. This is insanity - we are building the foundations of another boom and bust. For god's sake!

Kim, London,

Happy days? We always hear the pundits rejoicing when rates are cut. It may be a great day for borrowers, but what about those of us who live on a pension and thus depend upon a reasonable return on our savings? Spending good, saving bad?

bwhitjo, Hurstpierpoint, GB

Medicine is most efficacious when the dosage is taken as prescribed. The cut must be implemented in full. I'm baffled as to how the bankers can get away with creaming off gigantic sums for themselves. Is no prosecution of a central banker possible?

Tom Melbourne, London, UK

Over-spending is rewarded, deferred gratification is penalised. This lesson will not fail to be learned and will promote all the worst excesses of western democracies.

Rob, Reading, UK

Sorry Anatole but as a saver I am already sensationally depressed.
Would you please advise on the impact of record levels of liquidity combined with record loosening of monetary policy and potentially record levels of fiscal stimulus. Is it an 18 month mini boom and then total meltdown?

Mark, Launceston, UK

Trust in Kaletsky's opinion is problematical - I seem to remember his opining in favour of British adoption of the euro, now he's celebrating our monetary independence. And in the general deploring of low levels of saving, just how does he propose enticing savers - with such derisory rates?

alex, seattle, usa

I fear that (yet again) your predictions of light at the end of the tunnel will prove to be premature. I think you are greatly underestimating the severity and duration of the economic down turn.

carlos iradier, barcelona, spain

No one has ever explained to me why the Euro is a good idea. America is a big single currency zone but it seems to me the adjusting mechanism between states is the wlllingess of people to relocate, I wouldn't have thought Europeans wanted that.

Geoffrey, Sydney,

The pound will be pushed lower, savers will be punished, more debt on top of the already too much debt will be stimulated, new bubbles driven by cheap money will come and Japan has proven that even a zero rate does not even help the economy. Happy days are here again?

Eric, NL, NL

We never got uninflationary Growth. Measurements were skewed and price of consumer durables with short life and lower quality replaced the better products of pre-nineties.
It is a travesty to claim the past 16 years as low inflationary and continue to feed the low interest addicts more cuts.

S Yogarajah, Harrow, UK

Interest rate cuts always lower the value of the pound and fuel inflation. Both put the pincer on the value of savings, with low returns in one direction and erosion of capital value from the other.
Rates were cut in the past because the economy was being held back. In a recession this will fail.

Edward Bancroft, Colchester,

They're pushing on a string, Anatole; they're pushing on a string.

Peter Adam, Chevy Chase, MD , USA

I am not an economist, but to suggest that there has been 16 years "uninflationary" growth when house prices in that time have increased several fold, is nonsense. Sterling is now going to take a sharp dive, and money is going to loosened up even more, eroding the value of savings and pensions.

Paul, Carlow, Ireland