I think it was worse than what we think...........Alan G said that that clause came from somewhere in our laws/policies, our Fed could lend, almost infinite amounts, if need be...

Spies as well, do not discount what Viet Nam means to some people, as in our involvement, which ended in 1975, the fall of Saigon, North Vietnam did not beat the USA, China did, risking millions of its own citizens, i was there, in El Grenada, Half Moon Bay, CA when the call came in, that millions of Chinese were crossing the border, i was 2, it was 1973, the entire country fell 2 years later, millions of kids and women, assisted by the then million man red army.........who were sick of hearing the horror stories of how the Americans were killing kids, raping them, burning crops and entire villages and decided to help their fellow Orientals out..........with an enormous risk...

Ben Bernanke was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, not the Secretary of the Treasury, during the 2008 crisis. He worked alongside Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and New York Fed President Timothy Geithner to address the crisis by stabilizing the banking system through various measures, including the implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). 

• Ben Bernanke: As head of the Federal Reserve, he oversaw the Fed's response to the crisis. He collaborated with Paulson and Geithner on the overall strategy, slashed short-term interest rates to near zero, and set up emergency lending programs.
• Henry Paulson: Served as the Secretary of the Treasury and was a key figure in negotiating the $700 billion TARP bailout package with Congress, which aimed to recapitalize banks and restore credit markets.