sounds very confusing, am sure these fed experts have more idea than me !

jason palmer, london,

Dump your dollars. Buy PHYSICAL Gold or Silver. Take delivery and keep it at home. Then watch all the bankers squirm and shuffle as they try to buy their way out of trouble with worthless paper.

Trevor, Looe, Enland

How ironic that the deregulation of the markets started by ronald regan and margaret thatcher would bring down communism.
And now the so called victors of the great idealistic struggle are preaching the nationalism of losses.
Intresting times!!

bob, havant,

Both companies guarantee for, or own debt worth five trillion dollars. It appears, greed blinded bankers around the globe. They created financial constructs unable to oversee or control.

Chris, Germany,

Banks are private businesses? If a 'normal' business had mismanaged funds like this it would be called fraud and a massive investigation/crimanal case would ensue. Instead the governments are bailing them out. If banks are important to an economy then they should be closely regulated or nationalised

karl, Leeds, England

Where on earth does the USA get this money from?.It is already the world largest debtor with a figure that high I just cannot comprehend it.It is either just printing the money,so everybody should be fearful of that,or else it is borrowing from sovereign states,who have already provided billions.WOW

le berger, MIDDLESBROUGH, u.k

Here's another angle on all this. The vested interest of the cash kings OPEC China and Co is to reduce the west to nothing so they can buy us out at a knock down price. Then when the US and UK go on the rampage again these boys hold all the cards.

karl, Leeds, England

If my small business went bankrupt for say, 50,000 dollars I would be hounded and pounded to pay back the money, sell my house and be rocked back on my feet.

Not so if you are a high end financial boss. Bailed out, bonuses, no personal assets harmed or taken. We have no faith in the fed or gov.

Tom , Orlando, USA

Jon, it IS taxpayers' money: money created out of nothing, as you correctly say, dilutes all the money already out there - making taxpayers' money more worthless through higher inlflation. Inflation is a tax, the same as taking directly from salaries or savings.

Russell, London, UK

Ahh, the free market in action, ain't it grand!

Simon Harrison, London,

Judging from Bloomburg the Fed support doesn't seem to have improved confidence much. What next?

C Smith, Norwich, UK

Get the printing presses oiled again as the US Treasury continues to export price inflation around the world

Paul, Coventry,

"Congress ought to recognize that these firms are insolvent, that it is allowing these firms to continue to exist as bastions of privilege, financed by the taxpayer,". Quote from William Poole former presdient of the St Louis Federal Reserve. I entirely agree.

Chris, Oxford,

It IS taxpayers' money. Printing banknotes devalues the existing currency, to the detriment of everybody who holds pounds or dollars. Inflation remains low because money isn't circulating, but when the credit crunch relaxes . .

We're in trouble and easy idiocies like this won't extricate us.

Noel Falconer MEcon, COUIZA, France

Help by the treasurer would be mending one hole by another one, adding to the huge US budget debt caused by Bush's wars. Help by the FED means creating new money which will send the dollar exchange rate steep down and will add to inflation.
Will there be help from Europe, Japan, China ?

Karl, Hamburg, Germany

So the Fed just waves it's magic wand and hey presto $15B appears :)

I would love to see what the total money in circulation is and what the current balance of Gold is in reserves... I have a funny feeling the two wouldn't tally. Not even close.

Anyway $15B is not a big enough plug for $15T hole.

Paul Sullivan, Chester, UK

Financing them (Fanny & Freddie) seems reasonable - but buying the shares?
I guess this is par for the course in a western world that is living above it's means

David Nammory, Liverpool,

I do trust that the executive directors and the Boars of these two entities will be walking the plank without getting any reward for their inefficiencies.

David, Poole,

The preachers of free market capitalism nationailsing their mortagage market - hilarious!! Watch Wall st now tell us this is the bottom!! Wall St is just as bad Enron, and this time this greed driven craziness needs to be dealt with, period. There is no such thing as a free lunch

Hamish, Melbourne,

It like borrowing from Peter to pay Paul and Paul to pay Peter.What happens when Peter has to borrow of Peter?

stephen hulton, eure, france

Call me simple but where is the US government suddenly finding billions of dollars to lay its hands on? Is the government borrowing from the banks and are the banks borrowing from the government? Doesn't sound healthy to me.

Ubi, Edinburgh, UK

Depression on one side, collapse on the other...tough call.

Rob, Bracknell, England

Amazing. G.W.Bush and friends, have bascially run AMERICA, the worlds biggest & richest economy into the ground, within 8 years.

Mark my words, the world has yet to see anger and dispair from "the beast", like the world has never witnessed.

richard, gibralter,

Whether the Fed is a government agency or not is irrelevant. The fact is banks in the US and UK driven by greed, got themselves into this mess and must sell whatever assets they have at teh prevailing market prices to get sraight. Our economy must never allow itself to be bank profit driven alone

Robert D Marshall, LONDON, UK

State ownership of pretty much all a nation's wealth used to be called Communism. Interesting that the US, and Britain for that matter, should attempt this solution as their economies collapse.

C Smith, Norwich, UK

The game's nearly up folks.

Steve, Sydney, Australia

Limited steps to back-stop the banks are needed to maintain orderly financial markets. But any effort to avoid a full bleeding-out of excess credit that has been created by years of foolish low interest rates and lax regulation will perpetuate this mess. Investor losses are badly needed for a cure!

John McKay, Ottawa, Canada

It is not taxpayers' money. Any money loaned out by the Fed Reserve is created out of nothing and is not borrowed from the taxpayers or anyone else and is inserted into circulation usually as a loan to banks at interest.

Jon Maynard, Lansing MI, USA

AMERICA WAKE UP!! The federal reserve is a banking cartel that is priately owned and cannot be audited by the federal government. Their FEDERAL RESERVE name is a calculated distraction the are no more FEDERAL than Federal Express.
The D.R. is the biggest fraud of all time!! Thanks REP Raun Paul

Nat, Nerw Orleans,

How many mega-bucks? giga-bucks? tetra-bucks? will China and OPEC have to loan to keep the bubble inflating?
Or will the printers start getting overtime?
How many hundreds of dollars will a liter of petrol cost in 20 years?
Hyperinflation, anyone?

Tom Baxter, Tallahassee, USA

The mortgage securitisation markets have become totally distrusted. So the Fed's intervention is necessary to prevent their collapse and a consequent downward spiral in housing prices. But the Fed must now convince currency and financial markets that is not embarking on an inflationery bailout.

patrick slattery, Dublin, Ireland

This surely shows what a dire state the US economy is in if the Treasury are begging banks to throw good money after bad. Wonder how long they can keep it up?

Tom, Bornemouth,