[quote=deadzone][quote=FormerSanDiegan][quote=deadzone]Just pay attention to the Fed balance sheet (which didn’t exist before 2009 by the way).[/quote]

This is FALSE.

Although the Fed balance sheet expanded dramatically after 2008 it has existed for decades before that.[/quote]

It was negligible before 2009. When before 2009 was the Fed directly purchasing MBS? Relatively new phenomenon.[/quote]

I wouldn’t consider $750 Billion negligible.

Agree that MBS purchases were a new lever pulled and that Fed assets have expanded significantly… from about 7-8% of GDP in 2007 to over 30% today. But your original implication that they had no history of assets before 2008 was false and misleading. In fact the Fed has at least a 70-year history of asset purchases.