least through late 2014. ” 8 has this guidance worked? figure 7 illustrates how dramatically forecasters ’ expectations of future short - term interest rates have changed. as the dashed blue line indicates, the blue chip consensus forecast made in early 2010 anticipated that the treasury - bill rate would now stand at close to 3 - 1 / 2 percent ; today, in contrast, private forecasters expect short - term interest rates to remain very low in 2014. see, for example, board of governors of the federal reserve system ( 2009 ), “ fomc statement, ” press release, march 18. see board of governors of the federal reserve system ( 2011 ), “ fomc statement, ” press release, august 9 ; and board of governors of the federal reserve system ( 2012 ), “ fomc statement, ” press release, january 25. bis central bankers ’ speeches of course, much of this revision in interest rate projections would likely have occurred in the absence of explicit forward guidance ; given the deterioration in projections of real activity due to the unanticipated persistence of headwinds, and the continued subdued outlook for inflation, forecasters would naturally have anticipated a greater need for the fomc to provide continued monetary accommodation. however, i believe the changes over time in the language of the fomc statement, coupled with information provided by chairman bernanke and others in speeches and congressional testimony, helped the public understand better the committee ’ s likely policy response given the slower - than - expected economic recovery. as a result, forecasters and market participants appear to have marked down their expectations for future short - term interest rates by more than they otherwise would have, thereby putting additional downward pressure on long - term interest rates, improving broader financial conditions, and lending support to aggregate demand. the fomc has also provided further monetary accommodation over time by altering the size and composition of the federal reserve ’ s securities holdings, shown in figure 8. the expansion in the volume of securities held by the federal reserve is shown in the left panel of the figure. during 2009 and early 2010, the federal reserve purchased about $ 1. 4 trillion in agency mortgage - backed securities and agency debt securities and about $ 300 billion in longer - term treasury securities. in november 2010, the committee initiated an additional $ 600 billion in purchases of longer - term treasury securities, which were completed at the end of june of last year. last september, the fomc decided to implement the “ maturity extension program

as the weather is stunning, he takes a walk home. passing by a sweet shop, he gives in to temptation and indulges in a big portion of ice - cream. he pays by his communicator, which includes a rfid payment card. ( it is worth pointing out that the communicator is one of the most useful gadgets, as it plays many roles, e. g. that of electronic signature, id card, driving license, passport, global tax id, social security id, season ticket in domestic and international transport, to name just a few. it is biometrically protected. this means that in order to activate it, global touches a scanner which needs only a fraction of a second to read his papillary ridges ). afternoon at home, global finds his son in front of the computer. he is preparing to go to warsaw to take part in a workshop. moving and communicating is easy, so global has more time to spend with his son than his parents had for him. even during his business trips, he can have eye contact with his child. this is possible thanks to the communicator he keeps wearing, which is equipped with a video camera. one of their common passions is building a wooden boat in which they hope to go to the lake. they spend most of their time working on details and learning the wood processing technology by chatting through their communicators with other amateur boat builders from england, canada and china, among other countries. sailing is one of global ’ s favourite sports, but not the only one he does. global takes care of his health, which is under constant surveillance of an e - doctor. global rarely falls ill, because he takes preventive measures displayed on his communicator in accordance with his preferences twice a month. today, he got a text message reminding him that two months had elapsed since he last took his blood pressure. he confirms his willingness to be re - examined, and his watch takes his blood pressure and sends the result to the communicator, which automatically transmits the data to his edoctor. everything is ok, but global does not even notice this, because he is already engrossed in working on another issue – reducing the costs of building a city that 25 years ago was referred to as the knowledge city or intelligent city. it is simply a city that is comfortable for its citizens, a city where beauty and functionality go hand in hand, where