WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday a radical plan to buy massive amounts of short-term debts in a dramatic effort to break through a credit clog that is imperiling the economy.
The Federal Reserve, invoking Depression-era power under ''unusual and exigent circumstances,'' will buy ''commercial paper,'' a short-term financing mechanism that many companies rely on to finance their day-to-day operations, such as purchasing supplies or making payrolls.
I understand that we've gotten accustomed to world, and adopted practices accordingly, in which free and easy access to cheap credit by everyone all the time is the "norm," but I'm not really sure it needs to be that way.