Lebanon And Its Political Garbage
- Category: Politics
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If you haven’t heard yet, there is a garbage crisis in Lebanon. No, we are not talking (yet) about political garbage but about real garbage. On July 17 the landfill at Naameh closed. It was supposed to be a “temporary” solution but by the time of its closure, it held more than 8 times the forecasted amount of garbage. It was overflowing. Fair enough, but then what is the garbage…
Quantitative Easing - Pros And Cons - Part 4 of 4
- Category: Austrian Economics
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CAUSES AND EFFECTS - CONT'D
QE jobs creation - Intended
We have mentioned before that one of the indirect effects sought by QE is the increase of jobs. To a degree this has been accomplished.
QE jobs stagnation - Achieved
However, this has only been the case in US and even this is dubious considering how US measures jobs. It may all be a statistical mirage. On the other hand,…
Quantitative Easing - Pros And Cons - Part 3 of 4
- Category: Austrian Economics
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CAUSES AND EFFECTS - CONT'D
QE managing of bond markets - Intended
In the view of Monetarists/Keynesians, the purpose of managing the economy is to do so "for the greater good". By definition QE is designed to affect the bond markets by lowering long-term interest rates. Thus, by definition, QE "manages" bond markets. That's OK because as soon as the economy rebounds Central Banks will stop "managing" this market and…
Quantitative Easing - Pros And Cons - Part 2 of 4
- Category: Austrian Economics
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CAUSES AND EFFECTS - CONT'D
QE bank de-capitalization - Achieved
However what happened was "slightly" different. Yes, Central Banks bought garbage from banks at nominal prices and thus zombie-banks became living banks yet again. However, banks did not loan the now massive amounts of cash in their vaults. They were afraid a new 2008 was just around the corner. And so little to no economic stimulus was achieved. However, having…
Quantitative Easing - Pros And Cons - Part 1 of 4
- Category: Austrian Economics
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We have written about this topic in the past but we feel that we need to review it with a forward looking slant. All this mumbo-jumbo econo-jargon can get very confusing, particularly because Central Banks (and politicians) wish it to be so. To task.
QUANTITATIVE EASING - THE FAIRY TALE
To begin with, let's analyze what is the mainstream thinking about QE and what are they trying to achieve.
Managing…
Tocqueville - Yesterday And Today
- Category: Law
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Alexis de Tocqueville is a name that most people would not recognize… unless you are a citizen from the USA with more than two political and logical neurons working together. Tocqueville was a Frenchman who got to see firsthand how the US revolution operated in its infancy, back then when it was still possible to describe it as Freedom (or as we would say, having a Libertarian core).
During 1831…
Economic Information Warfare
- Category: Economic Conditions
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This article is going to be a little bit different. Today we are going to analyze the net effect of Central Bank action at a global level with respect to economic information contained in markets. We know that when markets are truly free, prices (and other data such as liquidity) paint a very clear picture of prevalent economic conditions. We know that this concept may be a little bit difficult…
The Great Portuguese Drug Debate
- Category: Regulations
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About fourteen years ago Portuguese people embarked on a grand experiment. Faced with a drug-related human catastrophe of immense proportions, they decided to “grow a pair” and de-criminalize everything. At the time this was a bold move, not only because of all the people with “vested interests” against such a law, but because it irked the USA with its all-out anti-drug policy. Portugal was an example to squash and not…
QE As Debt Cancellation And The Future Of Humanity
- Category: Government Debt
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This article is more of a speculative nature with a flavour of "back to the past". Many pundits and economic commentators have discovered a new reality; a breakthrough idea that they consider revolutionary. QE is debt cancellation! Sorry, you talking to us? Aha… Uhum…Hohum… so what else is new?
The process goes more or less like this.
- Government issues bonds
- Central Bank prints money out of thin air
- Central Banks…
