Akkam’s Razor

• slacktivist: She doesn’t care - We've seen this disease before. We've been watching it for eight years now. This is ignorance born of incuriosity. And that incuriosity arises from a lack of empathy. Like President Bush, Gov. Palin doesn't know because she doesn't care.
• OverFed? - Paul Krugman - Op-Ed Columnist - New York Times Blog - Until this past year, the Fed’s balance sheet was simple and clean: basically, it held Treasury bills, and its only liabilities worth mentioning were the money supply (strictly speaking, the monetary base.) And there was next to no risk. Now the Fed holds a vast array of “liquidity tools” — loans under the various emergency programs, the TAF, the TSLF, and all that; and it’s taken on quite a lot of risk.

Make no mistake, it is coming. They are clearly in panic mode [nakedcapitalism via Economist's View]:

“We have lost control,” said Hale, quoting [Federal Reserve Chairman] Bernanke. “We cannot stabilize the dollar. We cannot control commodity prices.”

(Please note that they really could never control it anyway, regardless).

The NYT says:

The head of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve began discussions on Thursday with Congressional leaders on what could become the biggest bailout in United States history. While details remain to be worked out, the plan is likely to authorize the government to buy distressed mortgages at deep discounts from banks and other institutions. The proposal could result in the most direct commitment of taxpayer funds so far in the financial crisis that Fed and Treasury officials say is the worst they have ever seen.