Rate cuts are reactive policy, not proactive generosity. The Fed cuts when conditions require it — either the economy is weakening or inflation has fallen enough to create room. Neither scenario is inherently a green light. The mechanism most people skip: the underlying condition that triggers the cut often matters more than the cut itself. In 2001 and 2007-08, cuts came steadily while asset prices kept falling, because the deterioration outran the policy response. The cuts were real. So was the pain. There's a structural reason markets celebrate cuts regardless. Asset holders genuinely benefit from lower rates — higher valuations, cheaper financing, multiple expansion. That's a rational preference. But it creates pressure to interpret the cut as unambiguously good news, when the condition producing the cut is the more important signal. The question isn't whether cuts are coming. It's what conditions are producing them — and whether markets are pricing the cut or the cause.