Fed: We Need To Keep Doing What We're Doing Because What We're Doing Isn't Working

I wish I were making this up.

At a two-day meeting that wraps up on Wednesday, the Fed is widely expected to maintain its monthly purchases of $85 billion in bonds to support an economic recovery that is nearly four years old but still too weak for the job market to truly heal.

With the central bank’s favored inflation gauge slipping and employment growth faltering, Fed officials could again find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to shift from talk of curbing stimulus to the possibility of doing more.

Currently, analysts see the Fed buying a total $1 trillion in Treasury and mortgage-backed securities during the ongoing third round of quantitative easing, known as QE3. Until recently, analysts had believed the Fed would start taking the foot off the accelerator in the second half of the year.

Now, things are looking a bit more shaky.

So, not only are they not ready to back off, things are “a bit more shaky”?

Imagine going to a doctor who talked you into an unpopular course of treatment for a chronic disease that was ruining your enjoyment of life and finding out after several months that you weren’t any better. In fact, at times you seemed to be suffering even more.

Now imagine this doctor then telling you the best course of action was to keep up the treatment, even though he had no guarantees it would work.

Now imagine wanting to punch the doctor.

It’s ok…it’s ok…