Nobody can complain that the U.S. Federal Reserve isn’t throwing trillions of dollars at the domestic and global economy to cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. And it seems to be enough at the moment, combined with unprecedented fiscal stimulus and a slowing of infections in many places, to stabilize the financial markets and keep credit flowing.
What people can complain about, however, is that the U.S. central bank’s policymakers didn’t act sooner, in a bolder fashion. The minutes of two March emergency meetings released last week give us an idea of why they didn’t.
Fed: Where’s The Alarm Or Empathy?
Even at the second videoconference meeting on March 15—when were tanking, investors were panicking and people were already unable to go to work, prompting the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to lower the benchmark interest rate a full percentage point to 0 to 0.25 percent, after having already lowered it a half point on March 3—even then there…
