politics for the 99%

Published on The Market Oracle.co.uk, by Raul I. Meijer, April@3, 2014.

A lot of words are being spent again these days on deflation and the QE measures that are supposed to “cure” it. Paul Krugman, who when it comes to stimulus is a hammer seeing nails only, now has it in for Sweden’s central bank, which he labels monetary sadists for not opening the spigots. But it’s all a hugely deceptive false flag; it’s not an issue of whether you launch QE or not. There’s a third, and much more valid, way of looking at this. 

• First of all, one should wonder if QE is the right kind of stimulus, if growth and recovery in the real economy is the objective. Which in present circumstances is a very big IF ,that is surprisingly, hardly ever questioned. But if the real economy is the target area, it’s highly likely that something like Steve Keen’s version of a debt jubilee, where every citizen receives an X amount, first to be used to pay off any debts, would be far more effective. Or the Positive Money ideal, in which central banks, not commercial banks, have the ability to create fresh credit.
• However that may be, what everybody should realize is that QE or another form of stimulus MIGHT work, but only if they’re executed in the proper fashion, that is, if debts are restructured at the same time stimulus is unleashed, i.e. the financial system is purged, which is the only way to restore trust and confidence. Debt restructuring must be a core element of any stimulus, and if it’s not, wherever you live, you know you’re being screwed.
• In essence, what central banks have done so far, first in Japan, then in the US and EU, is to cordon off the debts residing in their banks (e.g. in the form of swaps and not-so-securities), and then flood these same banks with money/credit, in order to make them look healthy. Since all these nations’ banks have the same debt issues, they all agreed to ignore each other’s obvious sleight of hand. And anyone can understand that if these banks are still sitting on huge amounts of debt, any and all stimulus must and will at some point disappear into a bottomless black hole, albeit only after first having pumped up asset markets to new bubble heights and creating a temporary and entirely false impression of growth and recovery, with one more round of fat profits for the zombified financial system, and eventually leaving behind an economic landscape for which the term scorched earth would be sheer flattery.
• If one thing should be clear, it’s that this does nothing to either fight deflation, induce growth or launch a recovery. It paints rosy pictures on a shiny and alluring screen, behind which present and future generations are being robbed blind. And even if it might be too much to ask, it would be good if it also became clear that QE has never been intended to heal the real economy, other than perhaps as a secondary side-effect. The purpose of QE is, and always has been, to keep banking systems standing as long as is deemed desirable, after which point the insiders clear out with their gains and the public at large will be left with the losses. QE is merely another way to transfer losses from “them” to you.
• A stinging rebuttal of Krugman and his ilk comes, via Tyler Durden, from Phoenix Capital Research, where Kool-Aid is not a favorite in the vending machine.

Japan has proven that Central Banks cannot generate growth with QE: … //

… (full long text).

Links:

Quantitative easing QE on en.wikipedia is an unconventional monetary policy used by central banks to stimulate the economy when standard monetary policy has become ineffective.[1][2][3] A central bank implements quantitative easing by buying specified amounts of financial assets from commercial banks and other private institutions, thus raising the prices of those financial assets and lowering their yield, while simultaneously increasing the monetary base.[4][5] This is distinguished from the more usual policy of buying or selling short term government bonds in order to keep interbank interest rates at a specified target value …; Economic impact; See also; External links;

Weapon of Last Resort: ECB Considers Possible Deflation Measures, on Spiegel Online International, by Christian Reiermann and Anne Seith, April 23, 2014 – Though the European Central Bank continues to play down deflation concerns, it is preparing measures to combat falling prices in the event of an emergency. Are the growing fears warranted? …;