Monetary Stimulus

( Image courtesy of TopNews.in)

Just finished up reading the front page article of the WSJ and it turns out we (United States of America) still are trying to figure out a way to get the 9.6% unemployment rate down (who knew?) along with getting inflation above 2% ( we are just a little over 1% right now).  The proposed way the Federal Reserve is planning to fix these major economical problems? Buying several hundred billion dollars worth of bonds over the next few months. Best case scenario: the price of long-term bonds goes up and in turn pushes down the long-term interest rate, hopefully allowing for more investment and spending, which leads to a successful economy. Chairman of the Fed, Mr. Ben Bernanke (pictured above), is the one making the push to restart the bond-buying program in hopes of helping our wonderful free market economy find its way out of the gutter. I love the fact someone is at least trying to give our economy a big kick in the ass to jump-start, but Mr. Bernanke's plan is catching some criticism. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Thomas Hoenig, said Monday, "That more expansive monetary policy was a bargain with the devil." Three other presidents of regional Fed banks have "expressed skepticism," as well, but forgot to offer any alternative ideas (WSJ).  Lets pray Mr. Bernanke knows what the hell he is doing and makes all his doubters look like idiots.