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This week's meeting of the Federal Reserve's policymaking committee was quiet. No changes to monetary policy were announced, and interest rates will remain targeted between zero percent and 0.25 percent until 2015.
This meeting was expected to be quiet, with the election less than two weeks away.
By contrast, the previous meeting had been eventful, with the Federal Open Market Committee announcing the third round of quantitative easing, or QE3. That plan calls for monthly purchases of $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities with no stated end date. The meeting also saw an extension of the forward guidance on interest rates.
Previously, the policymakers had indicated interest rates would stay low until 2014. But at the Fed's September meeting, Chairman Ben Bernanke vowed to leave rates at rock bottom until the economy improved and then some, indicating to markets and consumers that monetary policy will remain loose for years to come -- at least until mid-2015.
As a 75 year old retiree, the FED is killing my income stream. I am tired of financing people with money who take advantage of rates that are historically low while they sail away in their yachts.