Understanding QE3 Through Understanding QE2

With all of the talk of QE3 in the financial press the past few days, I thought it might be helpful to point readers to a lengthy post I once wrote on its predecessor, QE2, for our Economics for Dummies (aka Lawyers) series. While the actions have different names, the description and possible consequences I included for QE2 are just as relevant for QE3 as they are essentially the same strategy. Anyone interested in the original post can find it here.