The Federal Reserve lowered its target federal funds rate to zero before Obama was inaugurated, and initiated many programs to try to revive credit markets, with mixed results (the commercial paper facility has helped, whereas others seem to have gotten off to less sanguine starts). The Fed’s independence is a key component of its anti-inflation credibility, and a key test for Obama will be to support the Fed’s efforts to withdraw the liquidity before substantial inflation pressures assert themselves several years from now.