Re: U.S. Monetary Policy

[Jim Devine]

At 09:14 PM 3/19/00 -0800, you wrote:
>The Treasury has purchased $2 billion in long term government bonds in the
>last month.  It appears prepared to buy long bonds at an accelerating rate
>through November.  And the Fed seems prepared to go along by trying to
>protect the dollar from the Treasury's purchases with a higher Federal
>funds rate.  But since it's long term interst rates that are most important
>to domestic aggregate demand, the over-all effect should be quite
>stimulative.  That's Operation Twist all over again.  That's also the
>political business cycle at its best.

didn't "Operation Twist" (the early 1960s effort to raise short rates while 
lowering long ones) fail? or did it only fail after awhile, e.g., after the 
election?

Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] &  http://liberalarts.lmu.edu/~jdevine