In addition, the interest rates on the loans would be at penalty rates above those on similar forms of credit in normal times, and the loans would be backed by collateral that was sufficient to protect the taxpayer from losses. All of these criteria are consistent with how the Federal Reserve operated its broad-based facilities in the crisis.
In the end, the fundamental decision that the Congress, the Administration, and the American people must confront is how large a share of the nation's economic resources to devote to federal government programs, including transfer programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.