This all sounds lovely, the central banks making a sort of heroic stand against ... something. The effect on any currency when that currency's central bank gets involved in this mess will be deflation. Divide $750 trillion in derivatives by $75 trillion in global real estate values and today's dollar will buy you a dime's worth of product after this comes to pass.

Central banks on both sides of the Atlantic are actively engaged in discussions about the feasibility of mass purchases of mortgage-backed securities as a possible solution to the credit crisis.

Such a move would involve the use of public funds to shore up the market in a key financial instrument and restore confidence by ending the current vicious circle of forced sales, falling prices and weakening balance sheets.

Financial Times' coverage of the horrorshow is here

That this was coming has been pretty obvious since the Bear Stearns hedge fund collapse last August. One by one the various credit markets froze as those making decisions came to understand that what said $100 on the face was probably worth $10 on a good day and maybe less than $1 if it all gets unwound quickly. That unwinding has begun.

I think that there is still money for the energy related stuff we're trying to do, but I've heard from farmers and their coop operators - margin calls have stopped farms cold and they're threatening to do the same to those involved in servicing them. We just can't go a year without a crop and the last thing we need are a bunch of failing farms and the like being scooped up wholesale by sovereign wealth funds from Asia and the Persian Gulf.