roberto perli spent eight years at the fed, advising on monetary policy. he expects his former colleagues will want to see more evidence the economy is slowing before committing to a trillion-dollar bond buying program. >> this would be a very large increase in the balance sheet, which is what leads us to maybe believe another option would be to proceed in installments. >> reporter: some fed officials worry a big boost to the economy could set the stage for a huge jump in inflation, but economist josh bivens disagrees. he thinks prices are falling from lack of demand. what the fed needs to do now, he argues, is commit to driving inflation higher. >> so, basically, by increasing inflationary expectations, you are driving down the real inflation-adjusted interest rate people face, so they are going to be more likely to take out loans to do some spending. >> reporter: with the economy sputtering, the pressure is on fed chairman ben bernanke to make news when he speaks at a policy conference tomorrow. at the very least, harris thinks, bernanke will have to ack