We were lucky enough to get an early release of the FOMC statement that will be released later today and wanted to share it with you:

“To help support our $1.7 trillion portfolio of MBS securities, the Committee decided today to double down and take on even more risk on the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet by purchasing a bunch of Treasury securities. The Committee is prepared to provide additional accommodation if needed to support our balance sheet and take on the risk of inflation even though that is against our dual mandate.  We realize that we are walking a tight rope here and the risk of creating inflation with no real economic demand is probably not a good idea but, heck, we have no other options.  The Committee is also committed to the “extend and pretend” doctrine.  We will continue to hope for a lower rate of unemployment or a rise in house prices even though we know darn well that neither of these will likely to occur.  The Committee would like to remind the American public that our actions are not without precedent.  Lehman and Bear Stearns also embarked on similar highly levered, risky strategy with other people’s money in the recent past.

In considering possible further actions, the FOMC is announcing today that on the completion of QE2, we will immediately begin QE3 and soon after announce the initiation of QE4.”