<P> Credit easing involves increasing the money supply by the purchase not of government bonds but of private - sector assets, such as corporate bonds and residential mortgage--backed securities . In 2010, the Federal Reserve purchased $1.25 trillion of mortgage - backed securities to support the sagging mortgage market . These purchases increased the monetary base in a way similar to a purchase of government securities . </P> <P> Quantitative easing has been nicknamed "printing money" by some members of the media, central bankers, and financial analysts . Stephen Hester, chief executive officer of the RBS Group, said: </P> <P> What the Bank of England does in quantitative easing is it prints money to buy government debt,...So the Quantitative Easing has enabled governments, this government, to run a big budget deficit without killing the economy because the Bank of England has financed it . </P> <P> The Dutch Central Bank itself sees QE as being a money creation operation: </P>

Form of federal monetary aid under which congress