A few days back the boss of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, decided to "do something" about the just horrible, horrible state of affairs that the EU economy is going through. And so, in an act of incommensurable bravery, talent, imagination, ingenuity, innovation and foresight, he decided to take the following measures:
- Drop the ECB interest rate from -0.2% to -0.3%
- Extend Quantitative Easing for another six months or more if necessary
If you are interested, you can read all this oh-so interesting stuff (for example) in the article "ECB head Draghi's stimulus efforts leave markets underwhelmed), published by The Globe and Mail - Canada.
WOW!
Just WOW!
Imagine that. The ECB is going to print money and punish banks who do not use their money "reserves" to print more money. Just WOW!
We are truly stumped and in awe from such a talented, such a genius mind.
Print money!
Why didn't we think of it.
So simple. So easy.
We must be really, really stupid.
That's it! If Mario can do it, so can we. From now on that old Inkjet color printer lying around in our storage room will serve a brand new purpose. It will help us print our way to prosperity!
Yesssir! No more getting up in the morning and going to work.
No more traffic rush.
No more having to put up with idiotic bosses.
No more struggling to make it to the end of the month.
From now one will be only printing and spending. That's it!
We will print our own money and we will decide the value of that money. And eeeeeverybody will accept it for goods and services.
Actually, this is such a wonderful and revolutionary idea that we urge you to do the same. Just print wealth! Heck! Imagine that! We can end poverty! End hunger! End inequality! We can even have enough money to throw at scientists and researchers to cure cancer and colonize Mars (not necessarily in that order).
Fellow inhabitants of the world, unlimited world wealth has arrived. Unpack those colour printers and get printing. We, the elite member of F&P have discovered the universal means to wealth and we are doing something about it! You should too!
Does this sound like something that makes any sense?
We mean, at all?
Of course not!
It is completely, utterly, hopelessly idiotic… and so and by extension what Mario is doing. What every Central Bank is doing.
Look, this is not difficult.
Money is simply the means of exchange. Increasing the amount of money does not create wealth; it simply increases the amount of money we need to have in order to pay for that wealth… that other people are actually creating. For example, we exchange our labour for food. We work in a factory or office, we get paid and with this money we buy food. Increasing the amount of money floating around does not change the amount of time we need to work in order to be able to buy the amount of food we need (i.e. real wealth). It only benefits those who print this money because we don't know they are doing it and we accept it at face value. Printing only benefits the official counterfeiters, this is, the Central Banks and the governments.
But if this is the case (and it is), how exactly will printing money "reactivate" an economy permanently? And why is having more money circulating a good thing if the amount of wealth remains unaffected?
Answer?
It isn't!
It is a ruse!
A con!
A scam!
We explained all this before and if you are interested in this topic take a look at Fake Money For A Fake Economy which derives from Real Money For A Real Economy.
For us, it is incredibly annoying having to repeat these truths time and time again. But, what can we do,
The bottom line here is that nothing will change in EU. All Central Banks are essentially f'd. All governments relying on Central Banks are essentially f'd. How we know this? Because we have this cutting-edge technology called books whereby you can inform yourself about the consequences of similar actions that were taken in the past over the last 200+ years!
We know this because Argentina, our guiding black light in these events, has been telling us so since 1810 (yes, they got "independence" from Spain in that year…whatever).
Because mumbo-jumbo economic pseudo-theories and pseudo-sciences (i.e. current mainstream economic theories) cannot beat pure and simple deductive logic. The type of logic that your dad and mom taught you since you were about 5 years old!
This is not a mystery. Garbage in, garbage out.
So the next time that your Central Banker decides to "lower the interest rates" or "engage in unorthodox banking practices" in order to "stimulate the economy" because they must reach their "target interest rate", you will know where to send them.
Look, the response to all of this is simple:
Just Say NO!
Unless you enjoy being robbed by the government. Through taxation. And inflation. And blackmail. And idiocy. And scams. And so on. If this is the case, then enjoy! This is your golden age of stupidity. Just one thing… I wouldn't go around advertising it. You know. As the old saying goes, people may not notice the difference.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.