Bernanke could be repeating Greenspan's gaffes  The Fed
chairman's determination to avoid deflation could be leading him
to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor Ben Bernanke US
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Any boost for the US
economy is likely to be welcomed by an embattled President
Obama. Photograph: Young-Joon/AP  Three big questions arise from
the decision by the Federal Reserve tonight to pump an extra
$600bn (£372bn) into the US economy through the policy known as
quantitative easing. Why is America's central bank taking this
action? What are the likely consequences? How will the rest of
the world respond?  The answer to the first question is, on one
level, blindingly obvious. The Fed has a mandate to use monetary
policy to ensure stable prices and full employment, and at
present it is not achieving either. For a nation without a
generous social safety net and which has the Great Depression
seared into its soul, this is serious. But so, for Ben Bernanke,
is the level of inflation, which, on