I’ve noted this on a number of occasions and I seem to recall something in the comments section about this in recent weeks, but, today, David Rosenberg at Gluskin Sheff went to the trouble of drafting up the new list of policy mandates for the Federal Reserve:

But the Fed Chairman is at least getting what he wants in the equity market. Recall what he said back then — “higher stock prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase confidence, which can also spur spending. Increased spending will lead to higher incomes and profits that, in a virtuous circle, will further support economic expansion.”

So now the Fed has added a third mandate to its charter:

1. Full employment
2. Low and stable inflation
3. Higher equity valuation

The real question we should be asking is why Ben didn’t add this third policy objective back in 2007 and save us from a whole lot of pain over the next 18 months?

Well, two out of three ain’t bad, that is, unless you’re bothered by rising gasoline prices, medical costs that keep going up, and a bevy of other rising prices that the government’s measure of inflation seems to be unaffected by.