Some economists say the Fed will wake up before that happens. Right now, the world is a strange place. Consumer inflation in the euro-zone is climbing toward 3 percent. The European Central Bank, which wants to hold inflation at 2 percent, has ignored cries from all over the world to lower interest rates, even as the euro economies drop. In Japan, meanwhile, deflation is the threat.
Easy money is a logical answer, but there are political and institutional barriers to the strategy.
Japan keeps sinking, Europe floundering as it inflates. Union-Tribune Library researcher Richard Harrington assisted with this column.