In the past year the Federal Reserve System has done $600 billion of “quantitative easing.” QE2, the second round of this kind of stimulus, is officially over, but we could get another dose of it. In his July 13 report to Congress Chairman Ben S. Bernanke mentions QE3 as an option for the woebegone economy. “Easing” means having the 12 banks in the system buy Treasury bonds and Treasury-backed mortgage securities. Payment is with money created by the Federal Reserve. What’s going on here? Investing, as when JP Morgan buys a Treasury bond? Or something more like money printing? Defenders...