The real question is whether its near-term difficulties justify the discount Wall Street has slapped on its shares.
Investors who want to hold these countries long term are buying them at a discount, but could see further corrections if commodities were to get away from them again.
As the storm gathered during 2008, the Fed aggressively eased monetary policy by using such open market operations (supplemented by discount rate reductions) to drive short-term interest rates to near-zero levels.
Instead of owning one, own index futures, which trade at a discount whenever stock yields are higher than short-term interest rates.
Carmakers' embrace of "employee discount pricing" this summer helped their short-term bottom line, but it hurt their brands in the process.
Therefore, the expected long-term earnings growth is presently priced at a discount.
Eventually, interest rates will rise and we will have to address the debt problem (though rising interest rates allow us to buy back our debt at a discount, reducing the debt), as long-term debt can hamper jobs growth, but today we need to address our jobs problem.
The government has condemned the outstanding creditors as "vulture funds" - a term for investors that buy sovereign debt at a discount and sue to recover its full value.
The Fed has tried to pump money into the banking system to break the log jam, first by opening up its discount window to deposit banks and then by inventing a new term auction program for them.
But then, just 10 days after its regular meeting, the Fed moved to cut its discount rate, which is what it charges to lend short-term directly to banks.
It may seem like a strange move but by partnering with a traditional organisation, the social network could appear to have more long-term appeal and relevance than some other players in the discount market.
BBC: Foursquare and Amex join forces in UK to offer discounts
Pound futures are trading at a discount to spot prices, a reflection of the fact that short-term interest rates are higher in London than they are here.
In addition, there has always been an onus on discount window borrowings, which imply that banks can't get the short-term funds they need from other banks.
To break this vicious circle, the Fed last year instituted its term auction facility, as an alternative to loans from the so-called discount window.
If shares change in value, that must reflect a change in investors' assessment of either the prospective dividend flow (for example, because of fears about the future level of profits) or the right discount rate (for example, because of a change in inflationary prospects or in long-term real interest rates), or both.
While Swartzberg is encouraged by a projection that sales growth, which figures to get some boost from a gradual end to costly discount wars, may well exceed growth in marketing spending this year, Thompson thinks the long term is best served by spending what it takes to make Bud, Michelob and Busch cool again.
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