It had to happen. When markets are troubled, big government steps in.

us treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be pushing to give the Federal Reserve more power over markets. His speech, strategically leaked to the media, says the Fed needs greater access to information and greater authority over Wall Street.

"We should quickly consider how to most appropriately give the Fed the authority to access necessary information from highly complex financial institutions and the responsibility to intervene in order to protect the system, so they can carry out the role our nation has come to expect - stabilizing the overall system when it is threatened."

Says who? And would it help?

Frankly, the Fed's constant lowering of interest rates and the mortgage crisis suggest that Fed does not have what it takes to control the markets. All this does is give the Government more control.

The other worrying sign is that Government Accountability Office has once more slammed the Fed for its sloppy internal controls.

Which hardly fills one with confidence about expanding the Fed's role.