[quote]eg, if it buys Treasuries, that gives new money to the govt which then spends it into the economy[/quote]

It does not matter how much money the Fed is going to spend buying Treasuries, if the government is not willing to spend that money. The evidence so far is that every billion dollars of additional government spending has to face an uphill battle in the Congress. Come November, Democrats will probably lose 6 to 8 seats in the Senate and we can forget about any additional stimulus.

The only mechanism that has any hope of being effective is to lower the 30-year mortgage another half a per cent, that way homeowners will keep refinancing, freeing up some disposable income in the private sector. That and the hope of inherent resilience of the economy.