Fed Sends $79.6 Billion in Profit to Treasury

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/03/14/fed-sends-79-6-billion-in-profit-to-treasury/

The Federal Reserve released financial statements on Friday that show a $4 trillion balance sheet as of the end of 2013, a $1.1 trillion increase from the previous year. The asset holdings produced $90.4 billion of interest income over the year. Of this $90.4 billion of interest income, $76.9 billion was paid to the U.S. Treasury. The Federal Reserves program of asset purchases is expected to be reduced to $55 billion next week, which will lead to lower growth of the balance sheet moving forward. The program is designed to stimulate the economy by, "lowering long-term interest rates to boost growth and lower unemployment." But as the unemployment backed up to 6.7% last week I question whether now is the right time to reduce the quantity of asset purchases. My initial fear of the massive asset purchase program was that it would inflate equity markets and that the first sign of a tapper would carry the market lower. This clearly has not been the case. That said, why rush to scale back asset purchases?