Former Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin said the central bank will likely complete its $600 billion bond-purchase program, known as QE2 for the second round of quantitative easing, though a third round is unlikely.
“The fact that the economy is stronger right now makes it much less likely we’re going to see a QE3,” Mishkin, an economist at Columbia University in New York, said today in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop With Betty Liu.”
Mishkin said a third round of expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet could feed the perception that the Fed is purchasing Treasury debt to facilitate the government’s deficits, and that could weaken the Fed’s independence.
In the new Congress, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, author of the book “End the Fed,” will chair a House subcommittee overseeing the central bank. The House Oversight Committee will be led by California Republican Darrell Issa, who is aiming for increased Fed transparency, such as shortening the five-year delay on releasing Federal Open Market Committee meeting transcripts.
“It’s going to be a lot more entertaining,” said Mishkin. “I don’t mean that in a good way.”
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