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Reuters

If these folks don’t know what to do, who does?

It’s clear from the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s August 9 meeting that pretty much the only thing on which the 10 members of the all-important Federal Open Market Committee agree is that the economy is rapidly getting worse.

In the 10 pages of notes released yesterday, there are just a handful of sentences that indicate any sort of pervasive harmony among the members. Here’s one: “Participants noted a deterioration in labor market conditions, slower household spending, a drop in consumer and business confidence and continued weakness in the housing sector.”

But beyond those fairly obvious and depressing points there is little common ground regarding any long or short-term strategies for preventing the U.S. from slipping back into recession.

The existence of a rift between Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and a handful of regional Fed presidents was well-known long before the release of the Aug. 9 minutes. But the rift appears to have grown much wider as the economic recovery has all but stalled over the summer.

In other words, as the economic problems facing the U.S. have gotten worse in recent months the small group of powerful people charged with coming up with solutions are more divided than ever.    

At the Aug. 9 meeting the FOMC agreed to maintain interest rates at exceptionally low levels through mid-2013.

It was an extraordinary announcement for two reasons. First because the Fed so clearly articulated a monetary policy moving forward. (The Fed has historically operated with almost mythical secrecy). Second because three members of the committee