The Washington Post does its best to justify QE2, but fails. After a lot of fluff and excuses, the piece ends with the following admission:
… it is hard to avoid the conclusion that this was, in the end, a holding action. QE2 was not so much an asset-buying program as a time-buying program — time for America’s households, firms and governments to deleverage and heal as best they could. QE2 is over and unlikely to be repeated; Mr. Bernanke was not kidding last August when he said, “Central bankers alone cannot solve the world’s problems.” Meanwhile, the prospects of much more fiscal stimulus seem doubtful. For better or worse, the U.S. economy may be on its own.
The best that can be said, even by biased observers, is that QE2 drove inflation higher and the value of the dollar lower.
Funny that the Post let this admission slip through. Runs contrary to Obama and dem’s assertion that the economy is vastly improved. It appears clear though that their new strategy is to blame the impending doom on the evil republicans, especially if they refuse to raise the debt ceiling (which I doubt).