Fed Eases, Then Confuses

The Fed lowered the fed funds target to 2%, then issued a policy statement that may as well have been written in Urdu for all of its clarity. "The substantial easing of monetary policy should help to promote moderate growth over time." Then they say "financial markets remain under considerable stress and tight credit conditions and the deepening housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters." Followed by: "The committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters..." but "It will be necessary to continue to monitor inflation developments carefully." Also, they claim that uncertainty about prices "remains high." Let me summarize what Bernanke is trying to say: The economy is likely to grow moderately, unless the market crashes in which case growth will dramatically decrease. Inflation may go lower but could possibly go much higher and frankly, we have no idea what's going to happen. Why'd I take this job? Why?