Beneath a photo of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the headline on the Drudge Report Wednesday read "WAITING."

On the expectation that the Fed and European central bankers would do something on the monetary front to address the condition of the economy, the Dow ran up 286 points, its best performance of the year.

What is the market saying?

That the resilience of the American economy depends upon the decisions of a handful of unelected bureaucrats made behind closed doors?

That the value of an ownership stake in American industrial companies will rise depending on the votes of a small group of people few Americans could name?

That our future prosperity is not in our hands, but determined in proverbial smoke-filled rooms?

It may be that no one has smoked cigars in Fed meetings since Paul Volcker, but the power of the Fed to boom and bust the economy with money printing continues. And so the markets, indeed the world economy, await decisions from the Fed and their Eurocratic counterparts.