Europe's delusional search for growth

OTTAWA — Mark Carney hasn’t even taken up his new post at the Bank of England, but already there is growing speculation about where his policies will take the country. The U.K. central bank wraps up its monthly monetary policy meeting Thursday with new signs the economy is barely afloat and few options left to reverse that trend. Mr. Carney, who is jumping from the Bank of Canada to lead the BoE through an uncertain few years, is expected to pull out all the stops to keep the U.K. from sinking into yet another recession.

Jon Hilsenrath of the Wall Street Journal reported last week that Federal Reserve officials are evaluating the possibility of a measure that the journal describes as "sterilized" quantitative easing. How would this work, and what would it be intended to accomplish? From the Wall Street Journal:

Japan's parliament on Friday approved a new central bank management team that is widely expected to support the government's demands for more action to stoke the world's third-biggest economy.

John M. Mason submits: We have been given Quantitative Easing 2 ((QE2)) by the Federal Reserve System in the United States and now we are facing Stress Tests II ((ST2)) to be imposed on banking institutions in the European Union. Will we eventually be facing Financial Reform Act II ((FR2)) that will incorporate the next round of regulatory reforms of the financial system of the United States?