Fed policymakers are stuck with flawed data

NY Post ^ | March 16, 2010 | John Crudele

[Scanian]

Pity the poor Federal Reserve.

The Fed's policymaking Open Market Committee meets today, and in all likelihood we will learn around 2:15 p.m. that the Fed won't change interest rates, but it will reiterate that the end is near for a policy of printing money to purchase mortgages.

This so-called "quantitative easing" operation is a lab experiment developed by mad economic scientists led by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

It, along with the enormous federal budget deficit, is now threatening the US's triple-A bond rating.

The experiment began last year when the Fed, out of room for regular interest rate easings, cranked up the printing presses to produce extra currency that could be used to buy Treasury securities and mortgages that nobody else wanted.