To judge by its own economic forecast, the Federal Reserve is going to be spending a lot of money for a very long time.

Thursday marked a major turning point in the Fed's easing efforts. Once, its bond-buying, or quantitative easing, programs were large-scale purchases aimed at fighting back recession risks. Now, the Fed has put improving the moribund job market front and centre. It aims to buy $40bn in mortgage-backed securities every month, and it promises to keep doing that until the job market is back on the road to health.