The Federal Reserve did not only vow to maintain a zero interest-rate policy through the end of 2014 (a policy that has its critics, incidentally). They also set an explicit interest rate target for the first time ever, as far as I can tell.

Too failed to be big? Today, Public Citizen will send a formal petition to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Financial Stability Oversight Council to break up Bank of America. The petition asks them to “recognize that the Bank of America Corporation . . . poses a ‘grave threat’ to the stability of the United States financial system and to mitigate that threat, as provided by section 121 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.”

Dylan Ratigan is well positioned to author a book, designed to be an enjoyable and informative read by normal humans, on the ongoing financial crisis. He is the wunderkind who became Global Managing Editor for Corporate Finance of Bloomberg, the premier news service that specializes in finance, at an exceptionally young age. He was at CNBC while that network was hyping the housing bubble as a non-bubble offering fantastic investment opportunities.

At Bank of America, the situation is dire. We’ve been expecting a possible crackup of the big bank, which made some of the worst purchases in business history in acquiring Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. Now, Yves Smith notes that BofA may have to pull out of key areas of the country in order to survive

They completely missed a catastrophic bubble that had disastrous consequences for the nation. Banks and lenders were making money so they preferred not to see the problems that lie ahead. By 2006 the bubble already showed signs of popping, and still Fed policymakers were tragically ignorant.

Ron Paul may not be on a path to winning the Republican party’s presidential nominee but the strength of his campaign is making a serious statement about American politics and the potential future of the Republican Party.

Apparently the Fed didn’t take kindly to that Bloomberg News investigation of their $7.7 trillion largesse to domestic and foreign banks during the financial crisis. The Fed took the rare step of publishing a public rebuttal, with a cover letter by Ben Bernanke, objecting to the report.

One of the ways in which the big banks were bailed out was through an artificially high credit rating based on the assumption that they would always get bailed out if they got into trouble. This was a major advantage for them over their competitors. Now S&P Rating Services is downgrading major banks.

Bank of America has been dealing with extreme liabilities since they made the terrible twin purchases of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. Their liabilities stem from foreclosure fraud and a huge pile of non-performing mortgages, plus some exposure to Europe’s debt. Now regulators are directly warning them to improve their financial condition.

The Federal Reserve took no new action after its November meetings today, continuing on the same path, using some minor monetary easing and announcing that the federal funds rate will remain at its current level until at least mid-2013. Charles Evans of the Chicago Fed, who has been calling for a bigger intervention to maximize employment, bravely dissented from the left, becoming the first FOMC member to do so since 2007.