Monetary Policy Shift

The Fed made a policy shift
To render employment a lift
By buying more bonds,
As liberals and cons
In Congress are "fiscally cliffed."

Said Bernanke: "This monetization,
Which we do without sparking inflation,
Will terminate when
I'm happy again
With the pace of employment creation."

He continued, dispensing liquidity
To the bankers within his vicinity:
"Let the buying commence
Without the pretense
Of an end-date to QE Infinity."

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee ended its latest two-day meeting with a blockbuster announcement: Chairman Ben Bernanke and colleagues will keep interest rates super-low until the unemployment rate falls below 6.5%. It's the first time that an explicitly quantitative criterion has been publicly articulated for the setting of interest rates. According to the Fed's own labor market projections, we can therefore expect near-zero short-term rates until 2015. Mr. Bernanke expressed frustration with the slow pace of the recovery, as well as the additional roadblock created by the fiscal cliff. "If we could wave a magic wand and get unemployment down to 5% tomorrow, obviously we would do that," he said.