Yesterday’s announcement from the Federal Reserve should be getting a lot more attention than it has amidst the AIG circus. In the face of fiscal policy paralysis and mixed boom and bust messages from Barack Obama’s teleprompter, the Fed has made a major move, with serious risks but with real potential (at least in the short term) to move the credit markets at last. Along with Larry Kudlow’s comments, I found these reflections from Francis Cianfrocca helpful; and Jack McHugh provides a useful overview. Tyler Cowen’s skepticism should be carefully considered, though, and especially his warning that if this doesn’t work, our sense of where the bottom might be will have to be seriously rethought—and not in a good way. There just aren’t many tools left in the shed.