The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is near collapse, for it failed to pay back bailout cash.

In spring 2009, a bank examiner inside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York called colleagues with worrisome news: The global banking giant that despite taking more than $476 billion in bailout cash and guarantees, the most of any rescued bank, was near collapse.

The U. S. consumer price index fell 0. 4 percent in December, surprising most economists, and January will likely show a similar decline. After six years of near zero interest rates, those numbers were all but unthinkable to most mainstream analysts.