Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke announced a major change of course for the third round of quantitative easing. In order to boost the recovery, the Fed is buying $85 billion in bonds per month, including $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities, through December. And beyond: The Fed is now committed to that buys strategy beyond December if the economy has not seen significant gains by then.
Further, the Fed will maintain an interest-rate range of 0 to 0.25 percent through mid-2015, and the Federal Open Market Committee intends to make it stick. It will continue along an “accommodative” track for six months after the economy has recovered.
Slate‘s Matthew Yglesias greeted the news this way: “Build that apartment building right now.”
But do builders think that’s right? Please answer our poll—is the Fed moving the economy in the right direction?
