Quote from achilles28:
Clearly QE works to stabilize equity markets and employment, at least in the short term.
I don't think QE had anything at all to do with unemployment, or hiring in any regard whatsoever. Nothing. Zip.
I think we saw a bump in the unemployment rate because people finally fell off the 99er bullshit and the stat bumped. People didn't get hired all of a sudden. One should look at the employed as a percent of the population - a more reliable number - than the BLS's hilariously bullshit number.
QE's sole purpose was to drive up asset prices. Bernanke even said so himself, though he was referring to the stock market - not all asset classes. At the end of the day, you can't prime pump one without the other.