Patientrenter: This goes back to our discussions regarding honesty and fairness. While I agree that both are very important and especially in light of the massive problems we’re facing, I also think that there is an “Oh, Shit!” aspect to this situation and the senior members of the Administration are keenly aware of it.

Rough calculations put the potential cost of fixing this around $20Trn. The USG does not have anywhere near the resources to take that on, hence programs like PPIP that are looking to create monetary velocity and private partnerships and all with the recognition that this problem is too deep and wide to be handled organically. If Obama, Bernanke and the senior Treasury people were to come clean on how big this problem truly is, I think the wheels would come off the wagon in really short order.

So, they’re pursuing their version of “small ball”, using all available tools (although not as effectively as they could, in my opinion) and doing their best to impart confidence (hence Bernanke’s appearance on “60 Minutes” and Obama’s on Leno) and injecting as much liquidity as possible through the various Fed/Treasury programs.