The Fed's "Operation Twist"

The Federal Reserve Bank recently launched "Operation Twist," a scheme apparently intended to keep the world safe for money. According to the Financial Times, the Fed's initiative plans to lower interest rates through buying and selling nearly $44 billion in US Treasuries. The idea is to "twist" the relationship between short and long-term interest rates, so that borrowing costs (especially for home mortgages) are lowered.

We'll see. In the meantime, if you're experiencing some heartburn over the cost of money, I suggest taking your troubles off your mind. Try a 60s approach to relaxation via the great Chubby Checker singing and doin' the real Twist. Here's a YouTube video of Chubby singing the famous tune on the Dick Clark Show. The clip is great fun: black & white, lip synched, and has screaming fans clapping in time with the music.

I once worked in a resort hotel kitchen where Checker was the main act. By that time, he lived in a very large house on the Main Line outside his native city of Philadelphia. Chubby walked through the kitchen and insisted that everyone working the line was to be treated well. I've always appreciated that moment, and I've kept an original LP of "The Twist" in my vinyl collection (yes, I have one).

The image shows the cover of the "Twister" game that the toy maker Hasbro produced a half-century ago. Somehow, the notion of "Twister" doesn't seem the best way to straighten out an economy that's tied up in knots.