Sox First

Several weeks ago, I asked whether the Fed's bailout of Bear Stearns raised questions about moral hazard, where certain parties are led to believe they will not be held accountable.

Now, we have former Fed official Vincent Reinhart slamming the Fed, saying the bailout was the "worst policy decision in a generation". You can watch it on video here.

At BloggingStocks, Douglas A. McIntyre says the Fed jumped the gun and acted too quickly.

But The Economist blog defends the Fed, saying it could have done worse.

We can expect this debate to continue for some time. What the Fed did was desperate and one out of the box. Certainly a measure of how difficult the times are now.

• Arrests everywhere
• Bear hunting
• The Bear Stearns fallout and a solution
• Dirty dealings at Bear Stearns
• SOX and the Bear deal
• Subprime fallout: the bears are out
• Bear Stearns pair to face charges?
• Bear Stearns and China Citic
• Who's to blame for Bear Stearns? It's the media's fault