DannyTN, stop muddying the water. The congress has nothing to do with this, they just moan and groan over what is happening. The banks borrow money from the fed at under 1% and immediately buy treasury bills from the fed for between 2-3%. The banks make big bucks without risk and the Fed gets rid of treasury bills it otherwise couldn't have sold on the open market without greatly raising interest rates. That is why the banks won't loan to private citizens. The risk is so much greater than this sweet deal with the Fed.
The FED is intentionally keeping interest rates down because unemployment is so low.
The FED wasn't buying significant amounts of treasuries prior to this crisis.
It's not the FED's fault that CONGRESS is borrowing so much.
It's not the FED's fault that CONGRESS enacted poor trade policies and caused our factories to go overseas.
The FED is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing. Congressional spending is the problem. And don't think a gold standard would stop an irresponsible congress from borrowing and promising that your children will repay it in gold.