Fed to pump in $900 billion

From Bloomberg:

Oct. 6 - The Federal Reserve will double its auctions of cash to banks to as much as $900 billion and is considering further steps to unfreeze short-term lending markets as the credit crunch deepens.

"The Federal Reserve stands ready to take additional measures as necessary to foster liquid money-market conditions," the central bank said in a statement released in Washington today.

Sometimes it is hard to put such huge numbers into perspective. Well, $900 billion is equivalent to 6.5 percent of US GDP; a third of UK GDP, and it is more than the combined GDP of Sweden and Switzerland.

This liquidity operation is unprecedented. There has never been a larger one in human history.

Pray that it succeeds.