Even before the start of the holiday eating season, the Federal Reserve was putting on weight. In the three weeks to Nov. 28, the grand total of the central bank's assets expanded by $11.8 billion. Here is Alan Greenspan's productivity miracle. Click a mouse and billions of dollars of new credit are conjured into existence (or caused to disappear).rnThe Fed buys, or refrains from buying, securities in pursuit of the manipulation of the federal funds rate. Having imposed a 2% target in early November, the tenth easing of 2001, the Fed must provide the volume of credit to make its decision stick.
展开▼
