On today's Countdown 2024 we're dissecting the economic plans of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris ... and getting the latest polling snapshot from a couple of key swing states.

But first, a quick lap around the political world:

The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, the first rate cut since 2020 .That will eventually make borrowing money a lot cheaper.  Good news for the Harris campaign. Not so good for Trump. He claims a rate reduction now is election interference. 

More on this later on Countdown 2024 . We also  have new polling out from Quinnipiac , focusing on the crucial swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.  Kamala Harris has slim leads in all three states. 

The Wall Street Journal has been following up on  the controversy  out of Springfield, Ohio . That's where Donald Trump and JD Vance insist Haitian immigrants are stealing local dogs and cats and eating them.  As proof, JD Vance's staff sent Journal reporters a police report from a Springfield woman who accused her Haitian neighbors of stealing her cat in August.

But now, the cat's out of the bag.

When the Journal followed up with that Springfield woman ... she said  she  found her cat, and apologized to her neighbors for accusing them.

Today's Countdown guests:

-Justin Wolfers is a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan ... and, a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research

-Tim Malloy is an analyst with the Quinnipiac University Poll