Atrios is an economist and reminds us of an option not taken:

I don’t think Bernanke can legally start mailing checks to
us, though I think when he hits the “emergency powers” button he can
probably do just about anything, but it isn’t said often enough by the
right people that there are alternatives to giving free money to
banks, such as giving free money to me. At this particular point in
time, those alternatives are clearly superior.

We have a problem that can be easily solved by giving free money to
people, perhaps the most popular solution to a problem ever. And it
isn’t happening.