Printing money... - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

Ma'ake · 12-01-2008, 12:58 PM

The Fed's been (fairly quietly) snapping up toxic securities in exchange for cash, above & beyond the $700B given to Paulson. Their balance sheet has swollen from ~$700B to around $2.2T. Essentially, the Fed is using the power granted to it by Congress to create & distribute money, something typically done very judiciously, if at all.

A popular, cynical explanation is Paulson & Bernanke are mostly looking out for their banker buddies.

Or are they peering at a potential spiral & taking some pretty drastic measures to avoid it?

Given how the Great Depression started out as a nasty downturn and turned into a spiral, is this justified?

12-01-2008, 12:58 PM	#1
Ma'ake Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: SLC Posts: 441	Printing money... The Fed's been (fairly quietly) snapping up toxic securities in exchange for cash, above & beyond the $700B given to Paulson. Their balance sheet has swollen from ~$700B to around $2.2T. Essentially, the Fed is using the power granted to it by Congress to create & distribute money, something typically done very judiciously, if at all. A popular, cynical explanation is Paulson & Bernanke are mostly looking out for their banker buddies. Or are they peering at a potential spiral & taking some pretty drastic measures to avoid it? Given how the Great Depression started out as a nasty downturn and turned into a spiral, is this justified?