Cash for clunky Treasuries — that's the Federal Reserve plan for the near future regarding the continual force-feeding of debt. Putting an optimistic spin on the proceedings of the Fed's Open Market Committee, the WSJ says the Fed today "suggested the economy is on more stable ground, more confirmation that the severe recession is either already over or will be very soon."

MarketWatch's story emphasizes that the Fed is apparently going to keep interest rates low for a long time. The Fed also praised itself for doing a good job.

Yes, the pace-setting interest rate wasn't changed and is still near zero, and the Fed itself said, according to the WSJ, that economic activity is "likely to remain weak for some time." Actually, the Fed's official statement released to the press said that "economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time" — not specifying whether that means for "some time," which is probably longer than "a time." The fact that people hang onto and parse every word emanating from the Fed makes that a possibly crucial distinction. Possibly.

The WSJ did note that the Fed itself was doing some spinning by saying that "economic activity is leveling out."

Meaning that the Fed thinks that we should think that we can touch bottom? Looks like it.

Meanwhile, the Fed will continue selling those Treasuries almost as fast as it's subsidizing the trade-ins of clunkers at car lots.

Before today's action (or inaction), economists surveyed by the WSJ gave Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke a vote of confidence — a real one, not the kind that pols in parliamentary democracies get just before they're swept out of office.