Historically lax policies have become far less accommodative.

Policy would still be accommodative if the Fed maintained low interest rates rather than the zero level that was appropriate for a panic.

This prideful interpretation amounted to the siren song of an extremely accommodative monetary policy. Unable to disentangle the global and domestic pressures suppressing inflation, a price targeting Fed has erred consistently on the side of easy money.

The disinflation and ample liquidity created by the accommodative monetary policy of central governments have driven the market interest rates down to the extent that the fixed income markets no longer offer the returns that investors have enjoyed in the past.

Indeed, if the Fed makes an inadvertent mistake (the likelihood of this is considerable, given the country s complex situation and the unusually uncertain outlook), it is more likely to err on the side of staying accommodative for too long, rather than tightening monetary policy prematurely.