There's an interesting new blog/podcast that may turn into a high quality source of information to consume regularly:  the NPR Planet Money blog and podcast.

Here's a not-so-fun thought based on one of their recent blog posts...

Yesterday I criticized the Bush administration for herding us into the $700 billion bailout and not letting it be known that there was an alternative option in the form of the Fed buying up commercial paper.

It might be that I was wrong.  The actual truth might be worse than my view.  It might be this:

* No one actually knows how to solve the current economic crisis in the form of the frozen commercial paper market.

* Their first shot was the $700 billion bailout last Friday.  It didn't work.

* Their second shot was having the Fed announce a program Tuesday to buy up commercial paper.  It didn't work.

* Their third shot was coordinating with multiple countries around the world to lower interest rates today (Wednesday).  Right now it appears that didn't work either.

* Their fourth and current shot, if I'm reading this correctly in this article in New York Times, is to take an ownership stake in various banks.

At some point, the Fed and the government will run out of things to try.  I don't know what happens at that point, but something tells me it's really really bad.  Last week Warren Buffett used the analogy of the athlete who's had a cardiac arrest and paramedics are on scene trying to shock his heart back into beating.  To carry the analogy forward, each of the four actions above are shocks to the system to try to get things going again.  If none of those shocks work, what happens to our economy?