QE2 Sails Into Port

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Quantitative easing is officially here:

The Fed said it would buy an additional $600 billion in long-term Treasury securities by the end of June 2011, somewhat more than the $300 billion to $500 billion that many in the markets had expected.

The central bank said it would also continue its program, announced in August, of reinvesting proceeds from its mortgage-related holdings to buy Treasury debt. The Fed now expects to reinvest $250 billion to $300 billion under that program by the end of June, making the total asset purchases in the range of $850 billion to $900 billion.

I would like to feel optimistic about this. It’s certainly better than nothing. I just wish that “better than nothing” weren’t the best we could do at the moment.