The Economist reports on the chairman of the Federal Reserve and the treasury secretary briefing to Congress which gives a gloomy prognosis for the economy, and proposes a drastic remedy.

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, “told us that our American economy’s arteries, our financial system, is clogged, and if we don’t act, the patient will surely suffer a heart attack, maybe next week, maybe in six months, but it will happen,” according to Charles Schumer, a Democratic senator from New York. Mr Schumer’s interpretation: failure to act would cause “a depression”.

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