QE2 — “quantitative easing 2″, the Fed’s program of buying long-term bonds — ended last week. For a program that arguably did very little, QE2 attracted an amazing amount of vitriol. On one side, it was accused of fomenting “currency wars”, driving up inflation and/or exchange rates in developing countries. On the other, it was claimed that the program was masking the true effects of the US budget deficit, and that interest rates would soar after it ended.

Even people who should have known better said stuff like this.

And here we are. Strange to say, the world as we knew it has not ended.

Interest rates are considerably lower than they were when Bill Gross began making his dire pronouncements:

As of this morning, the 10-year rate was 3.09%.

And Brazil’s real is still hitting records.

Needless to say, nobody will ever admit that they were wrong.