QE2: Is Bernanke Treating the Infection? Or Just the Fever?

By: Francis Cianfrocca (Diary)  |  November 8th at 10:07 AM  | 

I’ve been asked to give some basic perspective on what the Fed’s “quantitative easing” actually is. Since writing this piece, I’ve become more convinced that I was on the right track. So far, three different QE models have been observed in the wild: the Japanese (2001-06), the British (2008-09), and Bernanke I (2008-10). We’re about to see Bernanke II. All of them are forms of | Read More »

Decoding the Objectives of the Fed’s QE2

By: Francis Cianfrocca (Diary)  |  November 5th at 02:09 PM  | 

It’s been clear enough to everyone with eyes that the most visible effect of the Fed’s QE2 program would be to inflate the stock market, and possibly (because of the weaker dollar) commodities too. A view is starting to emerge that this is what Bernanke actually had in mind. Creating a huge amount of new "bank money" obviously did nothing to stimulate the creation of | Read More »