On Tuesday, even the president used words like "rough" and "difficult" to describe the situation.

Wednesday, the Federal Reserve dropped interest rates for the seventh time, trying to keep pace with rising prices. The federal reserve once again slashed a key interest rate in hopes of jump-starting the nation's economy.

You may recall, Tuesday the president held a press conference and used nearly every word except recession to describe the nation's sluggish economy. Even though the president isn't using the word, the people we spoke felt like the nation was already in a recession.

Here's how a drop in the federal rate could affect millions of consumers and businesses. The federal hopes the drop of a quarter of one percent would lead to a decrease in the prime lending rate of up to five percent. The prime rate applies to some credit cards, home equity and other kinds of loans.

You may recall the federal reserve started cutting interest rates last September. So we'll likely be hearing about the "r" word for a little while longer.