The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued its statement indicating again that interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time and that proceeds of Treasury securities will continue to be re-invested into additional Treasury securities.

There will also be additional quantitative easing. This will take the form of the purchase of an additional "$600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011, a pace of about $75 billion per month," according to the Fed's statement. This was well within the $500 billion to $1 trillion range expected by many economists and strategists. Thus, the current program appears to be largely discounted by the market.

The world of international finance is a complex web. The U.S. is still the powerhouse when it comes to gross domestic product. Yet, while perched on top of the heap, the U.S. faces major problems with high-level debt and unemployment.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is faced with having to issue massive amounts of debt just to keep pace with the growing deficits. Now the Fed is planning another round of stimulus by buying more treasuries, dubbed QE2.

The 2001 Bush income tax cut is one of those issues whose fate has been sealed by objective economic conditions.

Simply, if the U.S. economy had registered robust growth during the final two years of the Bush administration, and no other negative economic events occurred, the tax cut, which will increase the deficit by $336 billion this fiscal year, $295 billion in fiscal 2011, and by more than $320 billion per year through fiscal 2019, perhaps would have had a chance of being extended.

How much do you owe on your credit card? If you owe $4,951 your debit balance is average. This is down from 13% from $5,719, according to Trans Union and The Associated Press.

The credit reporting agency said that this was the first time since 2002 that balances fell below $5,000. Late payments fell to less than 1%, down from 1.17% last year.

When John D. Rockefeller was asked how much money was enough, he replied: "A little bit more." If you're looking to make a little bit more on your investments, here are places to find extra cash. Unfortunately, rates are very low and the emphasis has to be on "little" rather than "more."

Please note: none of these stocks or funds are recommended as buys. They may, however, be a good place to start research.

The U.S. economic recovery is now proceeding at an anemic pace, a 1.6% GDP growth rate in the second quarter. And to top it off, certain analysts are arguing "the Fed is out of ammunition" and that means a double-dip recession is ahead.

Well, you can consider "betting" against the Fed, and assume even worse economic conditions are ahead, but before you do, contemplate the following:

• The Fed has already signaled that it's not likely to decrease the size of its balance until it sees sustained evidence of substantial GDP growth, and an increase inf capacity utilization. The calculation here is that the Fed is going to increase its balance sheet, including the purchase of long-term U.S. Treasuries, putting even more downward pressure on long-term interest rates.

Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meets again on Tuesday. Though the August meeting of the FOMC is generally uneventful, this time there is speculation about whether the FOMC will resort again to some quantitative easing -- a way of pumping additional money into the financial system.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has already hinted at such a move, given that economic growth has clearly slowed. Last week's disappointing employment numbers are the latest confirmation of that. The question is whether the Fed's decision to take action will happen at this week's meeting, perhaps aggravating deflation fears, or it may wait until the September meeting, at which point it risks impacting the upcoming mid-term elections.

Will mortgage rates, currently at/near generational lows, and bond rates, head lower in the quarters ahead?

That could be the case if one of the world's premiere rate experts is correct. PIMCO's Bill Gross said the U.S. Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise key, short-term interest rates for two to three years, Bloomberg News reported Friday.