Quantitative Easing

Quantitative easing, as this policy is known, has bailed out bonus-happy banks and made the rich richer.  Banks have been the biggest beneficiaries, with their 20- or 30-times leveraged balance sheets. Asset managers and hedge funds have benefited, too. Owners of property have made out like bandits. In fact, anyone with assets has grown much richer. All of us who work in financial markets owe a debt to QE.

A series of dramatic moves at the helm of Germany's iconic carmaker leaves many wondering what's next. Here are some thoughts.

"Unlike his acolytes, Keynes understood the value of gold and the dangers of currency debasement ... World where currencies are backed by nothing more than a governmental promise to pay while the printing presses whirled unchecked ..."

Having accurately foreseen the current events instead of just levering up on even more beta and praying the BTFDers return and bail out his underwater positions, John Burbank's opinion actually matters as does his outlook on what happens next. What he foresees is not pleasant.

China is looking more and more like good ol' United States...

For those of you who don’t want to take the time reading through the ponderous 7000-word transcript of yesterday’s FOMC press conference, we bring you the shorter Janet Yellen, translated from Fedspeak into plain English. Enjoy!

It is time for a radical denationalization of money, a privatization of the monetary and banking system through a separation of government from money and all forms of financial intermediation. That is the pathway to ending the cycles of booms and busts, and creating the market-based institutional framework for sustainable economic growth and betterment. It is time for monetary freedom to replace the out-of-date belief in government monetary central planning.

"What scares me, or what worries me, is what the next downturn in the economy looks like, with asset prices where they are and a lesser ability of central banks to ease monetary policy."

How did our financial system weaken to the point where a quarter of a percent increase in rates is more than it can handle?

Today, much of the world turns its lonely eyes to the Fed and its chieftain. The Fed has as much as promised to make the blind see and the lame walk. It claims that it – and it alone – is capable of improving the U.S. economy and, by extension, the world economy. People will earn more money. They will live better. And they will have less to fear from financial calamities, such as those that happened before the Fed was set up in 1913. In the popular mind – if there is such a thing – it is further believed that the Fed “won’t allow” a major bear market, because “it would be bad for the economy.” The Fed rules the entire universe of commerce, finance, and investment. Janet Yellen rules the Fed. But who rules Janet Yellen?

"If only The Fed would get out of the way... Monetary policy designed to spare us from pain has instead made the system more vulnerable to a crash."

A week ago, we noted Goldman Sachs' 'strawman' that Janet should "think about easing," despite the world's misplaced confidence that rates will rise "inevitably" since the US economy is doing so well. Today, we get to hear what 'god' thinks as the only thing that matters for The Fed's decision is - keep Lloyd happy  - and Goldman CEO Blankfein just said "U.S. economic data doesn’t support the case for higher interest rates."

Will she raise or will she not? As financial markets focus on whether we will see a Fed rate hike this week, investors may be in for a rude awakening.

global bank credit looks like it is already contracting in key markets, such as China, in which case global fundamentals are definitely deteriorating. This being the case, it will take increasing amounts of newly-issued money from the central banks to perpetuate the illusion that markets are rising, and that the economy is still growing, with or without state-directed buying of equities.

What's India got to do with it?