Quantitative Uneasy

While Bernanke undoubtedly wanted to do more in the way of monetary stimulus than he did, yesterday’s Fed’s decision to explicitly commit to keeping rates low through late ’14, was the best he could do in place of another round of quantitative easing. Recall that bond purchases (QE1 and QE2) have become increasingly unpopular with some investors and many Republicans who consistently (and mistakenly) believe that they will eventually lead to higher inflation.