THE FED'S INVOLVEMENT IN THEFINACIAL SECTOR:

As one by one some of the nation's (and the world's)largest banks and financial institutions collapse, the FederalReserve and the government have been forced to step in and involvethemselves in the business world in unprecedented ways. The Fed'slevel of involvement, certainly, hasn't been seen since the GreatDepression, and perhaps it even outstrips that economic disaster.But is the Fed reaching too far? Most of our readers (60%) don'tthink so. In fact, they believe the Fed's actions were necessary tokeep things afloat. Only 40% think the Fed has gone too far in itsinvolvement in the financial sector. Kevin Welsh, a senior vicepresident with CB Richard Ellis, is with the majority and applaudsthe actions of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Here are histhoughts:

"The financial system in general is in uncharted waters and Idon't think anyone in their wildest imagination thought, when theeconomy was chugging along, thought we'd be where we are today. TheFed had to take unprecedented action to address what are arguablythe worst liquidity and credit crises in the history of ourcountry. I applaud the Fed for everything they've done. They pushedthe federal funds rate down to 2% and it wasn't doing anything toloosen up the market, because really what you're dealing with hereis a crisis of confidence between the financial institutions. Thefinancial institutions do not have the confidence in one another tomake loans because they're not sure of the collateral, and thatshort-term lending is really what our system is based on. That haseffectively shut down.