The scary part is that the $145 billion would probably be better spent guaranteeing all of the subprime debts that got us into this mess.
The Fed has been almost totally befuddled by this whole thing. The only thing that has been positive is the fed fund auctions. That has kept banks with enough liquidity to maintain their solvency.
Overall, Greenspan put the rates too low for too long and then raised them too high. He also could have stopped the subprime mess when it was just starting but he cheered it on. Bernacke raised rates when he came in to show he was tough but that just guaranteed the collapse. Now they need to drop rates dramatically to get things going and then raise them slowly back up.
I do think the stock market mania is way over done. Non-financial companies seem to be doing well but punished along with everything else. The S&P fell about 50% during the 2001/2003 fall but earnings had already collapsed. We're almost half way there since Oct 07 and overall S&P earnings are still rising.
The Fed has been almost totally befuddled by this whole thing. The only thing that has been positive is the fed fund auctions. That has kept banks with enough liquidity to maintain their solvency.
Overall, Greenspan put the rates too low for too long and then raised them too high. He also could have stopped the subprime mess when it was just starting but he cheered it on. Bernacke raised rates when he came in to show he was tough but that just guaranteed the collapse. Now they need to drop rates dramatically to get things going and then raise them slowly back up.
I do think the stock market mania is way over done. Non-financial companies seem to be doing well but punished along with everything else. The S&P fell about 50% during the 2001/2003 fall but earnings had already collapsed. We're almost half way there since Oct 07 and overall S&P earnings are still rising.