The Fed is Splintering... Here's What Comes Next

  The Fed is growing increasingly splintered as an organization.   The media hasn’t really picked up on this issue yet. But once they do things could become quite problematic for the Fed.   Remember, the primary force that has held the financial system together since the Crash of 2008 was the view that the Fed could backstop everything.   However, dissent is now growing at the Fed… which means it will be harder for it to move forward in a unified fashion.    Consider its recent FOMC minutes released on January 3 2013.   With regard to the possible costs and risks of purchases, a number of participants expressed the concern that additional purchases could complicate the Committee's efforts to eventually withdraw monetary policy accommodation, for example, by potentially causing inflation expectations to rise or by impairing the future im...