On the key facts behind the bailouts of 2008, regulators have stonewalled the public, the press and even the inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. On Wednesday, we’ll find out if they can also stonewall the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Chairman Phil Angelides and his panel will begin two days of hearings on the subject of “Too Big to Fail,” featuring testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Sheila Bair. Across bailouts from Bear Stearns to AIG, the government has refused to release its analysis of the “systemic risks” that compelled it to mount unprecedented interventions into the financial system with taxpayer money. Two years after the crisis, Mr. Angelides and his colleagues should finally let the sun shine on this critical period of our economic history.

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Monetary Policy: With the economy seemingly headed for a big slowdown or even a double-dip recession, it’s tempting to demand that the Fed print more money. The only problem is, it won’t work.

Fed chief Ben Bernanke, speaking last week at the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole meeting, promised that the Fed would do “all that it can” to keep the economy from falling off the table and to stave off deflation.

But he fell short of promising concrete action. Indeed, he pointedly noted, “central bankers alone cannot solve the world’s economic problems.”

He’s right. Still, there are those who think the Fed should do more — a lot more. For sheer impact on the economy, none of the things the Fed could do would have the impact or sheer size of what’s being called “QE2″ — which stands for Quantitative Easing, Part II.

“QE1″ was what the Fed did from early 2009 to March of this year, during which it expanded its own balance sheet by about $1.4 trillion by buying government bonds and agency securities.

That added nearly $1 trillion to banks’ reserves, an unprecedented flooding of the banking system with cash. How did the Fed accomplish this financial feat? By simply creating money out of thin air, then buying financial securities with it.

Money printing, pure and simple.

Did it work? That depends on what your definition of “work” is.

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As the Bible says, we know that our redeemer liveth. And on Wall Street and Washington these days, the economic redeemer of choice is the Federal Reserve. When the Fed’s Open Market Committee meets again today, markets are expecting a move toward easier money that is supposed to prevent deflation, re-ignite a lackluster recovery, revive the jobs market, and turn water into Chateau Petrus.

It’s a tempting religion, this faith in the magical powers of Ben Bernanke and monetary policy, but it’s also dangerous. It puts far too much hope in a single policy lever, ignores the significant risks of perpetually easy money, and above all lets the political class dodge responsibility for its fiscal and regulatory policies that have become the real barrier to more robust economic growth.

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