Prescription for a sickly economy
By Neil Irwin
The Federal Reserve announced a plan to pump $600 billion into the economy, aiming to energize the economic recovery. Because the Fed cannot cut short-term interest rates any further — its targeted rate has been near zero for almost two years — the central bank will use a less conventional, and less proven, technique called quantitative easing:
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SOURCES: Bloomberg, Freddie Mac. GRAPHIC: Alicia Parlapiano - The Washington Post. Updated Nov. 1, 2010.