Yea, ok in the past the FED may have bought stuff other than T-bills. I was talking about current policy. Their public statements and balance sheet shows their open market ops involve T-bills only. I don't understand how you can believe that they are secretly buying stocks and bonds and don't reveal them or don't show them in their balance sheet. Such action will involve a vast conspiracy with literally hundreds of people in the know and none of them talking. It sounds very complicated and highly improbable. I prefer the simple explanation, especially when it explains what's happening in the markets: it's Greenspan's carry trade guarantee, a variation of his famous put that launched the bubble. The put essentially was a promise that he will drop short term interest rates if the markets threatened to tank. Since that no longer works, his new promise is to not increase short rates at least until inflation is considerably higher, which makes a carry trade (borrow short, buy long) a sure thing and keeps long rates nicely low. It works just as well as buying bonds directly.
By the way, I don't dispute that in the future they may buy things other than T-bills -- as you pointed out Bernake clearly said so. But, if they do, I don't see why they will keep it a secret or off their balance sheet.
Kyros
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
