ANYONE who thinks the Northern Rock was a fiasco doesn’t know the half of it.

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, has printed an extra trillion dollars this year with a view to easing the credit crunch.

On a technical point, this extra money is created mainly by book keeping entries or electronically, rather than by turning out actual dollar bills.

Anyway, it seems the Fed isn’t quite sure – er – where the money’s gone. I recommend a couple of video clips available on internet showing Fed officials being made to look silly at Congressional hearings. Norman Parkinson, the inventor of “Parkinson’s Law”, has been proved right: the quality of decision making is inversely proportional to the amount of money involved.

But I always believe in looking on the bright side. Whoever has got a share of this trillion dollars will be spending it on private jets, caviar and champagne, and that will help keep us skivvies employed.

Ralph Musgrave, Durham.