Sort of. It was a swapping of short term liquidity for assets across the curve. Which is why it was fundamentally different from what the FED is doing today.
"which is why it wasn't noticeably inflationary any of the times it was done"
This is quite a strong statement. I would disagree. My model says it was inflationary. The counterfactual is "what would the inflation/deflation rate be in the absence of QE all else being the same?". Such counterfactuals are hard to come by, which is why this is such a dismal "science." At any rate, it cannot be denied (IMHO) that actual QE depressed interest rates available to economic actors.
The reason Carlyle called it the dismal science is because so many classical economists were abolitionists, and Carlyle favored the institution of slavery.
I agree that counterfactuals are almost impossible to know in economics, but if predictions on one side repeatedly turn out wrong, then that side is probably wrong.
You can find innumerable doomsayers that predicted hyperinflation, and a loss of faith in the dollar and bonds. All of those people were completely wrong, and in fact the dollar strengthened, yields plummeted, and consumer prices were stable.
Fundamentally different from QE? Then what this guy is talking about?
"Kudlow says that ... the Fed's T-bill purchases are "basically" QE".
How something fundamentally different from QE can be "basically QE" at the same time? :-)
Kudlow is a political appointee clown who does not know what he is talking about. He has a master's degree in "politics and economics". This is not an economics degree. If you are going to appeal to authority (which I really don't have a problem with), then appeal to someone who has a relevant educational background to actually be an authority.
Sort of. It was a swapping of short term liquidity for assets across the curve. Which is why it was fundamentally different from what the FED is doing today.
"which is why it wasn't noticeably inflationary any of the times it was done"
This is quite a strong statement. I would disagree. My model says it was inflationary. The counterfactual is "what would the inflation/deflation rate be in the absence of QE all else being the same?". Such counterfactuals are hard to come by, which is why this is such a dismal "science." At any rate, it cannot be denied (IMHO) that actual QE depressed interest rates available to economic actors.