You would have to go back to the 1930s to find an instance in which the Federal Reserve Bank took measures comparable to those being made now to avert economic disaster.
That's right, back to the Depression.
Yet, as serious as the situation is - including the fire sale of venerable banking institution Bear Stearns - it's difficult to find much discussion of the presidential candidates' economic plans amid all the media punditry.
Instead, the focus continues to be on racial politics, despite the pleas of the candidates to not go there. The latest hue-and-cry concerns videotaped sermons by Barack Obama's former pastor in which he damns America for its racism, past and present.
Race can't be ignored. Obama is the first African American with a real chance of being elected. And it's clear he has had a harder time getting working-class white men's votes than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. But Obama is no more responsible for the comments of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. than is Republican candidate John McCain for the remarks of the Rev. John Hagee, a McCain supporter who has called Roman Catholicism a "false cult."
YouTube has the videotapes of Wright's sermons and the 24-hour news channels have played them ad infinitum. Too bad that much TV time isn't being devoted to what Obama, Clinton and McCain have to say about solving America's economic morass.
The death of Bear Stearns, in large part attributable to the subprime mortgage mess, has world economic markets wondering what's next. The United States seems to be caught in a free-fall, trying desperately to get its emergency parachute to open.
The Fed stepped in to shepherd the acquisition of Bear Stearns by J.P. Morgan Chase at the bargain-basement price of $2 a share. A week ago, the stock closed at $57 a share, and it was at $170 a share about a year ago.
For the first time ever, the Fed is now allowing securities dealers to borrow money from it on the same terms as banks. The Fed has also lowered its discount interest rate charged to financial institutions by a quarter-percent.
The Fed board held an emergency meeting Sunday. It was good to see the Fed recognize the gravity of the situation and move quickly to bolster the U.S. financial market's liquidity.
"The United States is on top of the situation," President Bush said yesterday. Too bad it wasn't on top of things when mortgage companies were throwing caution to the wind as they cast their nets wider and wider for risky clients.
An economy that survived the Depression will likely recover from this bad time. The question, though, is how. It would be nice to hear what the presidential candidates have to say about it. But they're too busy answering questions about the outrageous comments of people who can speak for themselves.