The Fed's $600 Billion Middle Market "Main Street" Lending Facility Is A Total Disaster
The Fed is currently undertaking one of the trickiest projects it has ever taken on: lending $600 billion directly to companies that need it. It's an area where the Fed hasn't really ventured, as the WSJ points out, and one that puts them far closer to the realm of directing fiscal policy in the country than they have ever been.
In other words, it's a political and financial headache - even for the Fed.
The goal of the program is to get cash to companies that are too large to get small business loans, but too small to benefit from the Fed's other genius programs, like buying junk bond ETFs.
The Fed's middle market "Main Street" program instead allows companies to get loans from banks, who turn around and sell up to 95% of the debt to the Fed. In other words, the Fed is hell-bent on becoming the world's worst counterparty.
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