Quote from kubilai:
Anyone know what happens when the Fed writes off some of the bad debts on its ballooning balance sheet? How does it account for the reduction in assets?
Great question, a lot of people what to know exactly what the Fed has taken in collateral for some of the loans they've made recently.
And, according to Bernanke's testimony on Monday, all of the collateral they've taken on is supposed to be low-risk, high-quality debt instruments.
IMHO, since the US Treasury receives any excess income the Fed generates during a fiscal year it follows that they would receive the bad debt, which would ultimately get added to the national debt.
BTW, for those who might be in shock over the idea that excess Fed income is returned to the Treasury, here's the source:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/pf/pdf/pf_1.pdf
"The income of the Federal Reserve System is derived primarily from the interest on U.S. government securities that it has acquired through open market operations. Other major sources of income are the interest on foreign currency investments held by the System; interest on loans to depository institutions; and fees received for services provided to depository institutions, such as check clearing, funds transfers, and automated clearinghouse operations.
After it pays its expenses, the Federal Reserve turns the rest of its earnings over to the U.S. Treasury. About 95 percent of the Reserve Banksâ net earnings have been paid into the Treasury since the Federal Reserve System began operations in 1914. (Income and expenses of the Federal Reserve Banks from 1914 to the present are included in the Annual Report of the Board of Governors.) In 2003, the Federal Reserve paid approximately $22 billion to the Treasury."