Rather than injecting that into the baking system, they'd be better off buying Microsoft. At least then, I might see a return on my money rather than a tax burden.

Michael, London,

Inflation-time is redistribution-time.

At the end some will hold all they were able to accumulate cheaply, or bought with cheap money thrown after them, because they are already "big". Acceleration of aggregate concentration.

It is what happens fast in paper-money-capitalism. It is natural.

"Ripe economies" like USA develop like that. USA will be the first country switching from capitalism to communism directly - the friendly marxist way. And that is good!
I don t know, what it will be called - maybe "transitional economy" - but certainly not "communism"...

Peter Vernunft, Berlin, Germany

This will encourage further reckless lending.

Costas, Cyprus,

"The Fed will hold the assets until the bonds are paid back." " is not pouring US taxpayers cash"

Fed promised to go on and on for 28- day lending.
So at the end, the sub-prime loans accepted as guarantees ARE beeing paid with the taxmoney.

hannu, Trellersby,

these are all signs of panic in the market and we are going to see much worse but what are they going to do then?inject more cash?investors have lost their confidence in the system and no amount of cash injection is going to patch this up.oil at 110 usd?does anybody know what this means?inflation inflation inflation!!!and then bust.the markets are doomed and i can't see any of these gentlemen able to save it with these gimmicks.soon it will turn lower again.

ebbi britt, vlaencia,

Edward you're quite right but if it was your job to balance the books. What would you do?

david, villeneuve, france

Everyone should remember that if the banks suffer pain, so will everyone else; they just pass it on and fight for their own survival. We are all dependant on borrowed money, even if we don't borrow any ourselves.

Yes the banks lost the plot. But there are only a few ways out of the mess.

1 Let the market take care of itself, the banks run out of money, and everyone goes bust, Warren Buffet and anyone with lots of cash cleans up and we all start again; most people from nothing.

2 Bail out the banks, cut interest rates, the system keeps going, only some people go bust.

3 Bail out the banks, cut interest rates, throw money into the system so that borrowers can pay the higher interest costs and have higher inflation which devalues debts (the "beam me up Scottie approach")

The first option is not politically possible. The central banks are aiming for option 2. We may end up with option 3.

Top bankers stay wealthy whatever happens. Even if they created the mess.

Alistair Nicholls, Manchester, England

We need to revisit the old expression 'smoke and mirrors' and see if it can be updated to suit the antics of the modern day financial illusionists.

Some sort of fudge giving a flavour half way between a structured investment vehicle and a credit default swap should do - for the time being - as skeleton after skeleton falls majestically out of the executive closet.

Personally I will believe what they say when I actually see the ectoplasm coming out of their mouths in broad daylight during a face to face conversation: cutting out the televisual and other 'mediums' so to speak.

We haven't heard much about private equity finance lately have we? I don't know what will hit the fan when they mess up all those companies they have bought and cause a lot of unemployment, but while we are in the biggest casino on the planet, I'll wager that it will be good for the vegetable garden.

Clive Wilson, Southampton,

So the United Bankrupts of America are now downgrading US Treasury Bonds to US treasury junk bonds status based on rubbish mortgage securities with "AAA" ratings that no other bank will have? Good grief, that should really help things! Up until now I thought at least US treasury bonds were safe, but I think it would be time to give even them a miss along with every other US instrument of financial mass destruction.

James Logan, Melbourne, Australia

Ah, cheap credit, the panacea that will create further ills.

Paul, Coventry,

These measures will not only prolong the agony but they will make the situation worse in the long run - the problem is all these measures are saving the skins of bankers who will carry on paying themselves massive bonuses thereby milking the system further - not one bank has passed on the benefits of these measures as they are using them to bolster their own balance sheets. The person at the bottom is not being helped by this as their motgages will get more expensive and their pensions are depleted. This leads to more defaults and repossessions and has created a vicious circle leading to more losses for the banks. What the UK needs is Tax Cuts to help the consumer.

Harry, warwick, uk

sounds like there giving the banks more time to sort out there books, a good move and becasue its coordianted then the currencies may only devalue agaisnt otehr currencies. banks are at the centre of our economey, so its important. this will probably lead to sustained high inflation which will lead to increased interest rates however. best solution move the economeys away from oil time for obama to come in a persuade the amrericans to becoem the leaders in non oil dependant trasnport. a move away from oil dependance would lead to less energy inflation and would stop the silly sheikhs and the middle east growing richer...

amit hindocha, leicester, uk

The FED are creating money from nothing. This is nothing but a bit of accountancy book cooking. The banks are able to palm off their worthless assets and make their problems go away. The taxpayer will pay whilst Wall Street gets bailed out again. Another sticking plaster on the severed limb of the economy. The giddy euphoric reaction of the markets will be short lived and the indices will slowly fall lower. The systemic problems in the credit markets have not been solved.

Edward, London,

God Bless America

Al, Odessa,