NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Though the U.S. economy may be in the doldrums, it will get a thorough going-over Tuesday, when more than 250 people, including President Bush and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, gather in two separate meetings to talk earnestly about what ails it.

Whether the talk will do any good is a different question, but at least it's a start.

Greenspan and about 11 other Fed policy-makers will convene in Washington Tuesday morning to discuss their target for short-term interest rates.

The Fed's policy-makers can cut rates to ease borrowing costs and stimulate the economy, if they choose, and many on Wall Street want the Fed to do that now, citing recent signs of economic weakness.

The lineup for the show:       Fed meeting to be a nail-biter Bush forum won't change much

Not only were stock prices in the dumps in June and July, the Commerce Department drastically revised its readings of gross domestic product (GDP) last year to show contraction in three straight quarters, the Institute for Supply Management reported a dramatic slowdown in manufacturing activity in July, and the Labor Department said job growth in July was nearly dead in the water.

Still, this might not be enough evidence to convince the Fed to cut interest rates again, an action some say would amount to throwing in the towel on the economy, further worrying consumers, whose spending makes up two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity.

Even if the Fed doesn't cut rates, however, the short statement accompanying its decision will get close scrutiny since it could hint at future rate cuts.

The Fed, the nation's central bank, cut rates 11 times last year in a bid to bolster the economy, but its policy-makers have held rates steady at four meetings so far this year.

Meanwhile, President Bush will host his own economic sit-down at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

His will be better attended, with about 240 Cabinet members, business leaders, economists and regular folks tossing around ideas about ways to fix the economy, corporate governance, health care and a host of other things in need of fixing.

The Waco meeting is even less likely to produce useful results than the one in Washington. But at least it will make it a lot harder to accuse Bush of ignoring the economy -- a charge that cost his father, the first President Bush, a bid for re-election in 1992.