Why such drastic action? The Fed is utterly petrified

After 18 months firing blanks, US policymakers have turned to printing money. Convention has gone out the window

Larry Elliott
The Guardian, Thursday 18 December 2008

During the decade leading up to the crash of 2007, some of us warned that excessive lending by reckless banks was an accident waiting to happen. We were told not to be so silly. The gods of the financial markets knew what they were doing.

When the global financial system seized up in August of that year, we said there was a risk of an economic pandemic that might plunge the world's economy into a dangerous tailspin. This was greeted with derision. The system was robust, we were told. Economies were well-placed to withstand any problems, we were told. The problem would be contained because policymakers had matters in hand, we were assured.