A more feminine version perhaps of the Greek historian Plutarch’s wise admonition that “the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lit.” Whichever way you say it though, the need to inspire and act was as true 2000 years ago in ancient Rome as it is in the world of the 21st century.
Without the option of using its conventional policy tool, and with the recession getting worse, the FOMC decided to employ unconventional tools to further ease monetary policy, even though the efficacy of these tools was uncertain and it was recognized that their use might carry some potential costs.