Lacker: Wise to Clarify FOMC View of Asset Buys

Monetary stimulus can no longer fuel this economy, and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke was right to "clarify … expectations regarding how the pace of asset purchases is likely to evolve," Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said Friday.

While "highly stimulative policy" was appropriate at the height of the recession in 2008 and 2009, "growth has resumed, however, and it appears as if it's limited, in large part, by structural factors that monetary policy is not capable of offsetting," Lacker said, according to prepared text of his remarks released by the Fed. "I seriously doubt additional monetary stimulus can provide much impetus to real growth right now."

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