The Federal Reserve has been the primary actor along, with the Treasury Department, in the bailing out of Corporate America, primarily its financial institutions.  As a result, its debt has gone (by one report) from 900 billion in October of ’08 to over 2 trillion presently.  “The most recent Fed Balance Sheet reading of $2.16 trillion is a doozy and is only getting higher, and a couple hundred bucks away from the highest ever recorded of $2.17 trillion a month ago. This is just the beginning: Bernanke at Co. have committed to monetizing $1.75 trillion of securities this year, of which $1.21 trillion remain to be purchased still. This means that the chart will likely pass the $3 trillion mark at some point over the next 3-6 months. As to the yield on these securities once the total is over $3 trillion, if the current trendline of UST pounding is any indication, look for something north of 5%.” Elliot Wave states: “that the Federal reserve debt has escalated by “buying outright, or swapping the pristine credit of the U.S. treasury debt for the questionable paper held by troubled banks, brokerages and insurance companies.”

Here is a link to a chart which sets out the Federal Reserve’s debt and the components thereof:  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FM71j6-VkNE/SjrIdok_zII/AAAAAAAADd8/H60xgOES1lI/s1600-h/Fed+Balance+Sheet+6.17.jpg  Of course, I cannot confirm the veracity of the information in this chart, but it makes for interesting viewing.  Here is a link to the blog where I picked this up (which is quoted above): http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/05/look-at-federal-reserves-balance-sheet.html

Michael