Off Topic, but Not Really – Or: Thanks, Daily Show

Stewart is basically right, though $7.7 trillion in loans never went out the door.  To be more precise: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-06/bloomberg-news-responds-to-bernanke-criticism.html

“In a March 31, 2009, story, Bloomberg News
tallied the potential commitments of the Fed using as sources
statements the central bank made and its weekly balance sheet.
The amount, $7.77 trillion, was never characterized by Bloomberg
as money lent by the Fed, though other commentators have
mistakenly used it in that context. Rather, Bloomberg has said
that that amount represents what the Fed “lent, spent or
committed” or the total of all “guarantees and lending
limits.” Bloomberg has been careful to characterize this number
as total commitments, not loans that went out the door.

“Bloomberg News reported that Fed lending peaked
at $1.2 trillion, a figure that didn’t include any double-
counting. Instead of adding all the outstanding Fed loans to get
a large number, Bloomberg used peak loan amounts that were
outstanding on a single day. On the day after the Nov. 28 story,
the Fed published that $1.2 trillion figure, affirming
Bloomberg’s calculation.”

That said, a high of $1.2 trillion in outstanding loans leading to $10 billion in profits is only slightly less insane.  My business sure could use a couple million in profits from 0.01% interest loans…