This is what I in a post earlier today asked the Federal Reserve to do:

Rather for example the Fed could just start at every regular FOMC meetings to state for example that “the expectations is now that without changes in our policy instrument we will undershoot our policy target and as a consequence we today have decided to use our policy instrument to increase the money base by X dollars to ensure that we will hit our policy target within the next 12 months. We will increase the money base further if contrary to our expectations policy target is not meet.”

I must admit Ben Bernanke nearly got it right! Here is from the FOMC’s statement:

“The Committee is concerned that, without further policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labor market conditions.  Furthermore, strains in global financial markets continue to pose significant downside risks to the economic outlook.  The Committee also anticipates that inflation over the medium term likely would run at or below its 2 percent objective….

…To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at the rate most consistent with its dual mandate, the Committee agreed today to increase policy accommodation by purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month. 

…The Committee will closely monitor incoming information on economic and financial developments in coming months.  If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Committee will continue its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities, undertake additional asset purchases, and employ its other policy tools as appropriate until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability. “

So we nearly got what I asked for: 1) A clear target – not an NGDP level target, but a light Mankiw rule/Evans rule based on the Fed’s dual mandate. 2) A clear instrument to increase the money base: Mortgage backed securities. 3) A promise to do more if the target is not hit.

Now the markets should do a lot of the additional lifting.

I think it would be ungrateful to ask for more – yes, yes it is not NGDP level targeting and a lot of things can go wrong, but today I think we can take a little victory lap. This is excellent news for the US economy and for the global economy. Then we can hope that we in the coming months will get an even more clear defined “Bernanke rule” so we finally can back to a rule based rather than a discretionary monetary policy.

Related posts:

Scott Sumner has two comments (here and here) on the FOMC decision.

David Beckworth also has a comment and so has David Glanser.

While Scott and two times David share my general happiness about the Fed’s actions our friend Marcus Nunes is less euphoric. Marcus as always been the skeptic among the Market Monetarist bloggers, but he has also often been right so maybe we should be a little bit careful in not being carried away.

Update: Dajeeps and JPIrving are also happy.

Update 2: Our friend Mayor(!) Bill Woolsey also comments on the fed. Bill is as happy as the rest of us with the progress in the thinking of the FOMC, but he also correctly raises some points about the dangers of targeting real variables such as unemployment rather than focusing on nominal variables such as the NGDP level. Bill’s comment in many ways can be seen as the Market Monetarist reply to George Selgin’s friendly reminder to us (the Market Monetarists) that we should not become too friendly with the fed exactly because the fed is now so clearly targeting a real variable. Bill post was however (I think) written prior to George’s comment. Needless to say I agree with George and Bill. The FOMC’s actions is major step forward, BUT I am certainly also somewhat uncomfortable with the fact that the fed now so clearly targeting a real – rather than a nominal – variable.