When Chairman Mao was asked what he thought of the French Revolution, he said it was too early to say. People who take a long view of history as did Chairman Mao would say that it is too premature to talk about the lessons of the crisis. Of course, this crisis is by no means over. There may yet be surprises.
After that point, whenever the Committee ultimately decides to raise the target range for the federal funds rate from zero, monetary policy will still be providing an extraordinary extent of support for the economy—short-term interest rates will still be very low, and the large amount of securities holdings on the Fed’s balance sheet will continue to put significant downward pressure on longer-term interest rates.