by Calculated Risk on 11/20/2008 01:18:00 AM

"The FOMC for many years has instructed the open market desk at the New York Fed to keep the actual Fed Funds rate close to the target Fed Funds rate. Clearly in recent weeks, it is not succeeding. As far as I can tell, it can't be trying."
William Poole, former President of Fed Bank of St. Louis

From Bloomberg: Bernanke's Cash Injections Risk Eclipse of Main Rate

``There has been a policy shift, but the Fed is not transparently announcing what it is doing and why,'' said former St. Louis Fed President William Poole, now a senior fellow at Cato. ``Monetary policy works best when the markets understand what the central bank is doing.''
...
``It is a move to quantitative easing, to force lots and lots of reserves into the banking system with the expectation that banks will start to trade them for a higher-yielding asset,'' said Poole, a Bloomberg contributor

Click image for video. Poole Sees Evidence of Unannounced Policy Shift at Fed (Source: Bloomberg)