...primarily created by increased flows of gold into the United States.... Unsterilized gold flowing into the United States was an effective, and a kind of proto-quantitative, easing program. The unwinding of that program was similarly a passive affair.... The announcement from the Federal Open Markets Committee about its balance-sheet policies (assuming it does arrive tomorrow afternoon) will start shedding light on the answers to these questions. But hopefully the committee will keep in mind another important lesson from the recovery from the Great Depression—that of 1937—as they move forward...