Fed's moves to aid economy since financial crisis (AP)

AP - The Federal Reserve has taken many unprecedented steps in the past three years to try to boost the U.S. economy and counter the effects of a financial crisis that triggered a painful recession. It has kept the short-term interest rate it controls at a record low near zero since December 2008.

AP - The Federal Reserve has taken many unprecedented steps in the past three years to try to boost the U.S. economy and counter the effects of a financial crisis that triggered a painful recession. It has kept the short-term interest rate it controls at a record low near zero since December 2008.

AP - The Federal Reserve has taken many unprecedented steps in the past three years to try to boost the economy and counter the effects of a financial crisis that triggered a painful recession. It's kept the short-term interest rate it controls at a record low near zero since December 2008.

I've been discussing possible explanations for the recent tendency of the dollar prices of commodities to move together. On Friday we received a very useful data point for distinguishing between the different hypotheses.

AP - Highlights of steps the Federal Reserve has taken to try to aid the economy since the financial crisis erupted in 2008:

    The Fed just realized it’s in big trouble and needs to manage down expectations of further stimulus.   As we noted earlier this year, the Fed, while attempting to appear committed to endless money printing via its QE 3 and QE 4 programs, was in fact decidedly split on whether to commit to more as well as the risks inherent to additional QE. Indeed, the Fed FOMC minutes indicate that some Fed members were concerned about whether QE even worked as a monetary policy.  

Via Mark Thoma and Arnold Kling, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis published an interview with Stanford Professor Robert Hall.