"I don't think we should be in a mode where we are waiting to see what the next few data releases bring," Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Hong Kong Bankers Club. "We are well past the threshold for additional action; we should take that action now."

The U.S. central bank on August 1 kept U.S. monetary policy on hold, leaving interest rates at zero and reiterating the view that economic conditions will warrant keeping them there until at least late 2014.

Many policymakers thought more stimulus would be needed "fairly soon," the minutes of the meeting show, but wanted to watch the data for signs of improvement that would render moot the need for additional easing.

Evans wants no part of that wait-and-see approach.

Like the chiefs of the Fed's regional banks in Boston and San Francisco, Evans sees a case for doing now what the Fed has done only two times before -- buy long-term bonds in an effort to lower long-term

• A Permanent Economic Emergency