“well, he’s right to point out one thing: this is not a gift, its a purchase of assets - at a discount to their original value.”
Bernanke outright said that he would like to purchase assets ABOVE market value. Call me a silly goose but purposely overpaying is equivalent to gifting.
And that is much less than the hold to maturity Market Value......
the point is that market value is depressed below the hold to maturity value. The Treasury may make an impressive return on these assets in fact.