For seven years, the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates at 0% while simultaneously running its “Quantitative Easing” program — shorthand translation: printing more money. Writing at Investor’s Business Daily, Terry Jones explains, “For the uninitiated, QE is when the Fed prints money to buy bonds from the government in an effort to keep interest rates low. The idea is that such purchases put more money into circulation, boosting consumer demand and raising prices.” And boy have they ever goosed the monetary system. Jones adds, “The Fed’s QE experiment has been unprecedented, adding $4.5 trillion — no, that’s not a misprint — to the Fed’s balance sheet.” The Fed’s policy goal was and remains inflation of about 2%. Officially, it’s been less than that for several years, though anyone buying little things like groceries or electricity would beg to differ. That said, the Fed has not met its goal; QE has failed. Stephen D. Williamson, vice president at the St. Louis Federal Reserve, writes, “There is no work, to my knowledge, that establishes a link from QE to the ultimate goals of the Fed inflation and real economic activity. Indeed, casual evidence suggests that QE has been ineffective in increasing inflation.” Score another one for the central planners.