Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Well, it answered a key question that many economists and others had, and that is that once the Fed's interest rate was at zero, what else could they do? The Fed answered that by saying, well, what we're going to do is go into the investment markets and start to buy up, literally, government debt. And what that is designed to do is to push other interest rates in the economy lower, like mortgage interest rates or interest rates on auto loans or personal loans. Now, when the Fed does this, when they go out and buy government debt, designed to push those interest rates lower, where's it get its money? Well, it creates it. It actually, literally, can create money. That's one of the big powers of the Federal Reserve. Now this ability to create money is a double-edged sword. Obviously, during a time like now, the Federal Reserve can use that power to keep credit cheap and plentiful and stimulate spending. But if they continue to do that once the recession is over, it can lead to higher inflation. Fortunately, Fed Chairman Bernanke said that he's well aware of this danger, and once the economy's back on track, he will seek to pull back that extra money. But right now, the Federal Reserve is on a buying spree."