QE Is Now the Operating System: The End of Monetary Normalcy

The Fed Pulled the Trigger—Without a Crisis For over a decade, Americans were assured that quantitative easing was only a tool of last resort—something you use when the entire financial system is in flames. It was supposed to be rare, temporary, and reserved for moments like the 2008 meltdown or the COVID shutdown. Yet here we are, in what the media calls a “resilient” economy, with decent GDP numbers and no major market crash—and the Federal Reserve is back to expanding its balance sheet. This time, there’s no emergency. No pretext. Just the quiet reality that the system can’t function without life support. The Federal Reserve says it needs to maintain “ample reserves,” but behind that euphemism lies the brutal…