Fed to head into Japan territory

Notes from the Federal Reserve’s Open Markets Committee meeting for October indicate Ben Bernanke et al could cut the federal funds rate below 1 percent next month.

The problem is, as Japan so painfully learned for a decade, once you do that, you’re stuck as far as getting financial benefits from monetary policy. If this doesn’t have the desired result, suddenly, Ben Bernanke’s new clothes are revealed in all their nonexistent splendor.