Saturday, May 23, 2015

Why One of the Wealthiest Countries in the World Is Failing to Feed Its People

On May 8 2015 I awoke to discover that not only were we not looking forward to a new coalition government in the UK, but that the overall collapse of the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party had given the Conservative government a mandate. At an individual level I’m likely to see some benefits from the strong neo-liberalism that underpins this government’s ideology, but I’m concerned about a further deepening of the division between those who have and those who have not.
This will mean the continued exponential growth in the numbers of people requiring emergency food assistance and increased numbers of children and elderly with inadequate food supply. This will also translate into higher rates of obesity, diet-related illness and malnutrition.
The Most Vulnerable
In the United Kingdom there are nearly 5m people today living as food insecure. Wendy Wills, an expert in food and public health, defines this as those who are unable to acquire or consume an adequate quality or sufficient quantity of food made available in socially acceptable ways, or who have the (regular) uncertainty that they will be able to do so.
In 2014, more than 20m meals were provided to people unable to provide for themselves. Since 2010 there has been an exponential growth in the number of households relying on emergency food aid. In 2009-10 nearly 50,000 households received three days of emergency food aid but by 2014-15 the number had increased to more than a million. Oxfam UK has estimated that: “36% of the UK population are just one heating bill or broken washing machine away from hardship”.
Read more

David Stockman on the factors leading to the widening wealth gap, poor economic growth, “The problem is central banks that are out of control”


Neil Cavuto, Fox Business, Released on 5/21/15
“The problem is central banks that are out of control, printing money like no one ever imagined, and have created a massive worldwide financial inflation. When you have a financial inflation, the people that have the stocks and bonds get the windfall.”

Karen Hudes: “The Banking Cartel’s Domination Was Based On Secrecy And They’ve Lost It”


Why The US Consumer Is About To be Crushed: The Obamacare Inflationary Deluge Arrives

Why The US Consumer Is About To be Crushed: The Obamacare Inflationary Deluge Arrives

Breaking: California's new water legislation held under top secret status; no one's allowed to know the details


legislation

California's new water legislation held under top secret status; no one's allowed to know the details

http://www.naturalnews.com/049787_California_climate_drought_legisl...
The U.S. government is becoming less transparent than it has been at any time in our history, as evidenced by pending water legislation in the nation's capital that voters, via their elected representatives, are not permitted to see.

As reported by McClatchy Papers, five months into a new Congress and years into a punishing drought that still continues to ravage most of California, legislation dealing with dwindling supplies of water confounds and splits the state's lawmakers.

Moreover, draft copies of bills are kept so close to the vest that they appear to be a top secret. The myriad details surrounding each draft are constantly changing. Timing to introduce the legislation is not yet settled, although a June 2 Senate hearing might go off as planned. Democrats are divided, and some are just angry.

Sound familiar?

Feinstein channeling Obama administration secrecy practices

"Right now, I don't know," a negative-sounding Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said recently when she was asked about the prospects for new legislation. "It's very difficult to put something together. Obviously change is controversial, so to propose something and then not to be able to do it makes no sense."

Feinstein and her staff are behind her chamber's drought legislation, but so far it has been developed under what a number of California water experts have independently called a "cone of silence."

Although the Republican-controlled House is expected to pass drought legislation this summer, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, has told Western growers last week that the Senate will either make or break any legislation.

"We've met with people. We've talked with people," Feinstein told McClatchy Papers. "We've taken ideas. We have done everything we can."

Other California Democrats have panned Feinstein's legislative effort as "very disappointing," labeling it the "same old story." This does not bode well for future political initiatives.

As McClatchy further reported:

Feinstein and House Republicans agreed last year on language to boost water exports south of the environmentally sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, encourage the completion of water storage project feasibility studies and capture more runoff from early storms, among other provisions. A version passed the House in December and died in the Senate.

Staffers for House GOP members have drafted more than 75 pages of proposed language. McCarthy told growers that a bill could be introduced again in the House by June.

However, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, opposed legislation that was drafted last year. Now, other California lawmakers are being asked what kind of bill they would like to see, but so far, nothing has come of the effort.

Why is this legislation so difficult?

Complaints about collusion and secrecy last year helped doom that legislative effort.

"Sen. Feinstein is moseying around with something, but she won't tell us what," Rep. John Garamendi, who represents part of the worst-affected areas of the state, told McClatchy. "Same old story. . . . Those of us that represent the Delta and San Francisco Bay are not included in the process."

For her part, Feinstein defended her secrecy, actually blaming the other lawmakers for any criticisms or alternatives they may offer. "It doesn't do any good to say, 'Let us see your language so we can rip it apart," she said, intimating that only her views and solutions were valid.

Meanwhile, the state continues to wither under heat and drought. In January, Governor Brown declared a drought state of emergency and imposed strict water consumption and use measures, but not all parts of the state are sacrificing equally. For example, daily water usage in ritzy Palm Springs is 201 gallons per person, which is about double what it is for residents elsewhere.

Worse, California is responsible for the bulk of food and produce grown in the U.S. As the drought worsens and lawmakers continue to prove incapable of coming to an agreement on drought legislation, the people, as usual, will continue to suffer.

Sources:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com

http://www.cbsnews.com

http://www.washingtontimes.com

We stand on the verge of Economic Totalitarianism that will lead to the total control of money by the state. No one will be able to buy or sell without government approval.

Denmark is not part of the euro; they have their own currency, the krone. So far, they appear likely to become the first country to abolish cash. The Danish government is currently pushing to free some stores, restaurants, and petrol stations from accepting cash payments as Britain was testing last year in Manchester. The Danish government is currently are proposing to scrap cash transactions entirely as part of a package of cost-saving measures introduced ahead of the Danish election in September.
image: http://i0.wp.com/armstrongeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/DENMA-Y-5-15-2015.jpg?resize=584%2C438
$DENMA-Y 5-15-2015


We stand on the verge of Economic Totalitarianism that will lead to the total control of money by the state. No one will be able to buy or sell without government approval. The USA has already provided for the revocation of a passport if you owe the government more than $50,000. Passports in Rome were invented not to travel between nations, but to be able to travel to prove you did not owe money to the state and hence were free to travel. History simply always repeats – only the names change.
http://armstrongeconomics.com/archives/30671
The Nationalization of Banks?
If we continue down this road of economic implosion, then the socialists will demand government seizes all control just as Gordon Brown is promising in Britain. Despite the fact there is no precedent for anyone to eliminate the business cycle, Brown’s pronouncement will be as always, government will save the day when they have routinely destroyed society throughout history with their greed and corruption. The socialists just hate anyone who has more than they do and it is more about robbing other people than learning how to really manage society.
The socialist will argue to nationalize all banks, and the banks will end up being their own worst enemy for all they care about is profit on the next transaction. It would be very nice to split the world and say all those who are socialist go live there and those of us who do not desire to be your economic slave, or believe that the Ten Commandments prohibit socialism outlawing coveting their neighbor’s goods, should equally be allowed to leave. After all, that is why people fled Europe and traveled to America for it was the freedom and land of opportunity. The socialists have destroyed America and turned it into the land we once fled.
No one has a right to suppress the other for that is what makes war. This trend against banking will lead to the nationalization of banks for the debt is now consuming nations and compelling them to act ruthlessly and tyrants. They will now move to control all accounts and nobody will be able to buy or sell anything without government approval.


The New Age of Economic Totalitarianism & the London Meeting to End Currency
We face the worst economic crisis perhaps in modern history with the distinct risk of moving into a state of Economic Totalitarianism. The governments are well aware of the Economic Confidence Model (ECM). Many people have asked the question why have they not killed me since it appears that most others central to events covered in the movie, the FORECASTER, are dead. I believe the answer is rather simple, for even when I was released and appeared on Capitol Hill, I was introduced as this is the guy with the model they are trying to suppress.
Governments may indeed be now using the ECM for timing since it certainly appears they are now aware of cycles. Nonetheless, they are retreating from the world in any democratic position for they are preparing for what appears to be a shift toward Economic Totalitarianism rather than reform. Governments shifted at the G20 in favor of more Draconian taxation enforcement. They have not yet changed their way of thinking and you cannot solve a crisis by following the same path of thinking that has created the nightmare in which you are trapped. Governments as a whole are imposing extra taxes at least through enforcement that is tearing the world economy apart at the seams.
Clearly, behind the curtain there appears to be underway for the first time actual preparation for an economic downturn. However, the possibility of a dramatically sharpened financial crisis looming in the fall appears to be considered and now broadly accepted as inevitable. There is obviously a serious threat of a possible global bank run thanks to the faulty structure of the Euro and its lack of a consolidated debt from the outset. The European bank reserves lack a single status and as the member states get into trouble, so will the banking system. This could spill over into a global crisis as people see banks fail in Europe and prudent people begin to withdraw cash in North America as a precaution setting in motion a contagion.
The governments are well aware of the Economic Confidence Model (ECM). It certainly appears as though they are now focusing on the cycle rather than just the trend.Nevertheless, they have not changed their thinking process and in that line the future appears very grim – we are headed into economic totalitarianism unless the people wake up.
http://armstrongeconomics.com/archives/30145

Derivatives are a $1 quadrillion ticking time bomb, soaked in gasoline and sprinkled with gunpowder.

….
Is it even possible that eurobonds are being sold because fear of a Greek default?
Is the fear of a default cascade the reason bonds are being dumped in wholesale batches?  I have heard the explanation that “net issuance” has again gone positive as the reason for these air pockets.  Maybe this is true, I do not think so but if it is then there is a very real problem!  If this is true, it means the market cannot absorb the issuance and yields are going higher not by design but because there are simply not enough buyers, an “uh oh moment” so to speak.
I have a little different theory which if not so now, or “yet”, it will be soon!
I believe much of the bond market weakness is being caused (and saved) by OTC derivatives.  I believe and have said multiple time before, “someone(s) out there is already dead”.  I believe that “bankrupts” are strewn all over the place and have been hidden with overnight loans… but there is a new problem.  The recent volatility has created more and more losers …which creates more and more FORCED SALES!  (Please don’t scoff at this as there are a handful of “choice” firms who have not had a single day of trading losses in over four years, with a whole string of losers in their wake? )
You see, for all intents and purposes we have lived through a global bull market in bonds since 1982.  This has culminated in negative interest rates and we ended up with everyone on the same side of the boat with no one left to “buy”.  Of course you could ask the question “why would anyone buy?” with zero or even negative interest rates.  Only a few of the “sane ones” out there have asked this question until now, it seems maybe a few of the insane may be regaining at least some sense of sanity!?
As I did yesterday, I will repeat “why” all of this is important.  “Credit” is what our entire system is based upon.  It has become the basis for all paper wealth and the lubricant for all real economic activity.  Should credit collapse (it will), everything we have come to believe in (been fooled by) will change.  Credit has come to be viewed as “wealth”, it is considered an “asset”… with just one problem, it is neither!  Credit is only an asset and can be considered wealth as long as the borrower “can pay”.
And herein lies the rub, Greece cannot pay which means the holders of Greek debt (along with issuers of CDS) cannot pay and so on.  It is not just Greece of course, it is the entire Western world, it just happens that Greece is first because they lied the most with the help of Goldman Sachs and other “benefactors”.  If counterparty risk did not matter, there would be no problem.  The reality is this, the whole show from single dollar bills to trillions in derivatives will be engulfed in this “counterparty risk”!
Derivatives are a $1 quadrillion ticking time bomb, soaked in gasoline and sprinkled with gunpowder.  The volatility we are now seeing are the matches!  While we have had two “saves” where the central banks have stepped in and bought debt to steady the markets, the day will come when it does not work.  This game has gone on for a very long time and resulted in a mania where most all of the players are “long”.  The only potential new longs left are the central banks themselves who can only buy more debt with money created by debt.  The day will come when the ability to “save” is overcome.  Along with it will come the freedom of prices created by Mother Nature herself.  Stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities and yes, even silver and gold will finally break the chains of “algo mania”.
Finally, this you must understand, “power” is currently debt.  The control of debt is also the power of prices.  Once debt breaks loose and trades out of the control of central banks, these central banks will also lose the control to price everything else.  We have come very close twice in the last four trading days of the credit market control being broken.  Will loss of control be on the next convulsion?  Or the next?  I nor anyone else knows this answer, I do know the greatest margin call in all of history will be issued … and it cannot be met!

WARNING: Wealth Confiscation has Begun as U.S. to Tax Driving and Bank Deposits!


Sources:
“My Way News – Oregon to test pay-per-mile idea as replacement for gas tax”
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150…
“HSBC to charge for holding deposits – FT.com
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6ad3f9…
“40 percent of unemployed have quit looking for jobs”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102694868
“?www.gao.gov/assets/680/670313.pdf­”
http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/670313.pdf
“For Many American States, It’s Like the Recession Never Ended – Bloomberg Business”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/article…
“BIRD FLU SUPPLY PINCH; EGG PRICE SURGE…”
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150…
“Police cash confiscations on rise…”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102679948
“Exclusive: China warns U.S. surveillance plane – CNNPolitics.com
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/20/politic…

The Fed has Lost Its Ability to Rescue the Dollar


Published on May 20, 2015
This is one of five catalyst discussed in an exclusive Money Morning interview with Jim Rickards, the Financial Threat and Asymmetric Warfare Advisor for both the Pentagon and CIA.
To read the full interview transcript with Jim Rickards go here: http://mney.co/1K17J6d
To watch the full video interview with Jim Rickards go here: http://mney.co/1Af5QmN
———–
Many in the U.S. Intelligence Community warn a severe economic collapse is unavoidable…One that will ignite a 25-year Economic Depression.
Money Morning is proud to publish this presentation because the impending economic collapse could begin within the next six months.
Which is why every American should hear Rickards’ warnings before it’s too late.
This Clip Features Catalysts #5 that could ignite an unimaginable economic collapse.
Catalyst #5: The Fed has Lost Its Ability to Rescue the Dollar
Playlist: 5 Catalysts That Will Trigger an Economic Collapse – http://mney.co/1HuBXB9
Catalyst #1: 5 Catalysts That Will Trigger an Economic Collapse: U.S. Debt – http://mney.co/1Fo1E2T
Catalyst #2: The Petrodollar Will Collapse and Take Down the U.S. Dollar With It – http://mney.co/1K18mwK
Catalyst #3: China’s Secret Gold Reserves Could Crash the Dollar at Any Moment – http://mney.co/1IPBV5H
Catalyst #4: There’s a $5 Trillion Threat to the World’s Largest Economy – http://mney.co/1dklovl
Catalyst #5: The Fed has Lost Its Ability to Rescue the Dollar – http://mney.co/1Fo44yl

Why aren’t the banksters in prison?

Why aren’t the banksters in prison?

Andre Damon
(WSWS) – On Wednesday, five major international banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, America’s largest and third-largest financial institutions, pleaded guilty to felony charges for helping to manipulate global foreign exchange markets, paying a wrist-slap fine of about $1 billion apiece.
The financial impact on JPMorgan and the other banks for pleading guilty to a felony will be effectively zero. As part of the deal, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued waivers exempting the banks from the legal repercussions arising from their status as criminal organizations, giving them continued preferential treatment in issuing debt, as well as the continued right to operate mutual funds.
Despite the claims by Justice Department officials of a criminal conspiracy “on a massive scale,” carried out with “breathtaking flagrancy,” there was no talk of breaking up JPMorgan or any other bank, let alone bringing criminal charges against any of their executives.
The rigging of global foreign exchange rates is only the latest in the string of crimes, frauds and criminal conspiracies for which JPMorgan has been fined by US and international regulators.
* In January 2013, JPMorgan, together with 10 other banks, agreed to pay a combined $8.5 billion to settle charges that they forged documents to foreclose homes more quickly.
* In November 2013, the bank agreed to pay $13 billion to settle charges that it defrauded investors by selling fraudulent mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the housing bubble collapse in 2007 and 2008.
* That same month, JPMorgan paid $4.5 billion to settle charges that it defrauded pension funds and other institutional investors to whom it sold mortgage bonds.
* In December 2013, JPMorgan and eight other banks were fined $2.3 billion for manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), the global benchmark interest rate on which the values of trillions of dollars in securities are based.
* In January 2014, JPMorgan paid $2 billion in fines and penalties to settle charges that it profited from and helped operate Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
As a result of the crimes perpetrated by JPMorgan and other banks over the past decade, millions of people have had their homes foreclosed, and millions more have lost their jobs, while countless university endowments, pension plans, and municipalities have been swindled out of billions of dollars.
Based on this partial list of only the latest and largest crimes carried out by JPMorgan, it is no exaggeration to conclude that America’s largest bank is a criminal organization. Why then is it impossible to prosecute, much less jail, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, the mastermind of all of these crimes and conspiracies?
The answer to this question lies in the vast retrogression in social relations that has taken place in America amid the enormous growth of social inequality. Behind the increasingly threadbare outwards trappings of democracy, America has become an aristocratic society, with entrenched legal and social privileges for the ruling elite.
Before the French Revolution of 1789, European society was divided into feudal estates, such as the nobility, the church prelates, and the commoners. The estate into which someone was born was not only an economic category, but affected all aspects of life, from the laws that applied to him, to the types of taxes he paid, even to the kind of clothes he was legally allowed to wear.
The foundations of American democracy, laid in the aftermath of the American Revolution, were set up in opposition to the rigid social hierarchy that dominated contemporary Europe. The American Constitution prohibits the granting and holding of titles of nobility, while the 14th Amendment explicitly guarantees “the equal protection of the laws” to all people.
But could anyone argue that this is the case now? According to the American Bar Association, there are more than three hundred people serving sentences of life without parole for shoplifting in the state of California alone, while countless thousands of men throughout the United States are imprisoned for being too poor to pay child support.
Meanwhile the financial oligarchy and the state officials who defend their interests are effectively immune from prosecution. This tiny elite constitutes not merely a separate economic class, but effectively a separate estate, judged under what are, in effect, a different set of laws. A worker can be thrown in jail for failing to show up for a court date, while bankers who steal billions of dollars get off scot-free.
The American financial aristocracy is an inherently criminal class. Its wealth is based not on production, but on plunder, speculation and the upward redistribution of wealth through the impoverishment of the great majority of the population.
This financial oligarchy controls all the levers of power in contemporary society. The media, courts, politicians and so-called financial regulators are all under the thumb of the Wall Street mafiosos. Far from seeking to restrain Wall Street’s criminality, the government functions to facilitate and cover up for its crimes.
In exchange, politicians are provided with millions of dollars in campaign contributions and “speaking fees,” while top financial regulators are invariably assured high-paying positions on Wall Street after their stints with the government.
Ben Bernanke, the former Federal Reserve chairman who funneled trillions of dollars to Wall Street during the 2008 bank bailout, announced this year that he has been hired by two major Wall Street firms, the hedge fund Citadel and the bond trading firm Pimco, each of whom will presumably pay him a seven-figure salary. Bernanke followed in the footsteps of his colleague Timothy Geithner, who became the head of hedge fund Warburg Pincus in November 2013, following his stint as Treasury Secretary.
There is no way to break the power of the criminal cabal that dominates political life in the United States within the framework of the present social order. Holding the Wall Street criminals to account requires a radical reorganization of society. Only then can the criminals who head the major US financial institutions be arrested, tried and convicted of the crimes that they have orchestrated against the populations of the United States and the whole world. Their ill-gotten gains must be seized, and the major Wall Street banks must be put under democratic control by the international working class.
This requires the building of a mass movement of the working class, whose aim must be the overthrow of the capitalist system and the socialist reorganization of economic life in the interest of the great majority of the world’s population.
This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.

Inequality in US highest among developed countries

Inequality in US highest among developed countries

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published a new study that explores income inequality in its 34 states.
The study, released on Thursday, found that with 10 percent of its richest population earning 19 times the income of the poorest 10 percent in 2013, the United States ranks first on OECD’s list of developed countries by their rich-poor gap.
This is especially important because the average rate of inequality according to OECD stands at 9.6 times for the period of the study, reaching a new high in past 30 years.
“In most countries, the gap between rich and poor is at its highest level since 30 years. Today, in OECD countries, the richest 10 percent of the population earn 9.6 times the income of the poorest 10 percent. In the 1980s this ratio stood at 7:1 rising to 8:1 in the 1990s and 9:1 in the 2000,” reads the report.

BUSTED: Paul Krugman removed 20 years of data from a chart to show a correlation that wasn't really there

Someone sent me an email Wednesday evening with some details on the Paul Krugman response to James Montier, which I discussed here. I had previously stated that the Krugman response was lacking meat. But it's actually worse than that. It's actually highly misleading and appears intentionally so.
In the post, Dr. Krugman tries to show how much interest rates matter by comparing the Fed Funds Rate with Housing Starts. He shows a chart and declares that there appears to be a strong correlation. Except, as this emailer notes, he appears to have shifted the chart to make it appear as though there is a correlation where there isn't one.
Here's the Krugman chart:
Mountain View
And here's the version that would have originally shown up when the data is pulled from FRED:
Mountain View
Read more: http://www.pragcap.com/fun-with-charts-paul-krugman-edition#ixzz3asSBMO2V

Ry's Wage Plan

If you controlled the creation of a country’s currency, would YOU care who made its laws?


Could this be one of the Greatest Scams in the history of the world? It certainly heavily influences the world
This is an original video produced by the YouTube channel HighImpactFlix
The Federal Reserve is one of the most important institutions in the United States. Through the management of currency and interest rates, the FED “attempts to keep banks secure.”
Since 1913 the Federal Reserve has conducted business that is constitutionally assigned to Congress. That’s a LOT of responsibility. Why does the FED have it?
Article 1 section 8 of the constitution says the congress has the power to coin money. The FED admits they they are not “federal” – they aren’t a government agency. They are a private bank…a business. Many of the founders, history records, condemned centralized banking.
Critics say that having bankers write financial laws is a conflict of interest. Today the FED calls itself a “decentralized banking system,” composed of 12 banks serving a different part of the US. These 12 are composed of other member banks.
The FED is unique in the legal world. It isn’t owned by the U.S. and its leaders aren’t elected by U.S. citizens.

Global Fraud Propping up System, Middle East Fighting, No Economic Recovery


UBS is a whistleblower in a new case coming up, and this time, it involves some of the same big banks that just plead guilty to Forex and LIBOR market rigging. Now, new allegations of price rigging in the precious metals market looks like they will be coming to some more big banks. That’s right, gold and silver prices are being rigged and the Justice Department is probably going to fine more bankers. Lets’ see, interest rates have been rigged, currency markets have been rigged and precious metals markets are being rigged. Are you getting the picture of how dire it must be that all markets are rigged in some way? This past week Rob Kirby said, “The markets are a crime scene.” This is not an exaggeration.
It looks like a crisis has been averted off the coast of Yemen. Iran has agreed to UN inspections of a cargo ship carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen. Iraq is not that lucky. Ramadi has fallen to ISIS. So has the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria. With these defeats, ISIS gets new equipment and tanks as they are abandoned by retreating Iraq forces.
In the latest “there is no recovery” news, look no further than the Federal Reserve. In last month’s Fed meeting, policymakers said they would not raise interest rates in June. According to USA Today it is because of “the economy’s recent sluggish performance.” There is NO RECOVERY and the Fed knows it.
Join Greg Hunter as he talks about these stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up.

Leading German Keynesian Economist Calls For Cash Ban

It’s official: the world has gone central-planner crazy
Leading German Keynesian Economist Calls For Cash Ban
Image Credits: 68751915@N05 via Flickr.

Monetary policy, whether in the form of “conventional” methods such as the micromanagement of policy rates or so-called “unconventional” measures such as QE, has proven utterly ineffective when it comes to both “smoothing out” the business cycle and reigniting economic growth in the wake of severe downturns. If anything, recent history has shown the exact opposite to be true. That is, the Fed helped to engineer the housing bubble and has now succeeded in inflating a similar bubble in stocks and fixed income. Meanwhile, the Japanese experience with QE has plunged the country into what we have affectionately dubbed “The Kuroda Zone”, wherein the BoJ has cornered both the stock and bond markets while failing to promote wage growth or meaningfully raise inflation expectations. In China, the PBoC has taken to cutting policy rates at the first sign of weakness in the stock market, helping to sustain what will perhaps go down in history as the second coming of the tulip bulb mania, while the ECB has taken the insane step of adopting a trillion euro bond buying program while simultaneously demanding fiscal discipline, meaning the central bank’s bond monetization efforts are set against a backdrop of meager supply.
In sum, the collective actions of the world’s most influential central banks have done wonders when it comes to inflating asset bubbles but have done very little to revive robust economic growth. In fact, far from smoothing out the business cycle and resuscitating DM demand, post-crisis monetary policy has actually had the exact opposite effect: it has set the stage for an even more spectacular collapse while simultaneously creating a worldwide deflationary supply glut.
At this stage, a sane person might be tempted to call it a day on the monetary experiments, especially considering that at this point, the limits have been reached. That is, there are literally no more assets to buy and rates have hit the effective lower bound where rational actors will eschew bank deposits in favor of the mattress. But not so fast, say folks like Citi’s Willem Buiter and economist Ken Rogoff: the world could always ban cash because if you eliminate physical currency and force people to use a debit card linked to a government controlled bank account for all transactions, you can effectively centrally plan everything. Consumers not spending? No problem. Just tax their excess account balance. Economy overheating? Again, no problem. Raise the interest paid on account holdings to encourage people to stop spending. So with Citi, Harvard, and Denmark all onboard, we bring you the latest call for a cashless society, this time from German economist and member of the German Council Of Economic Experts Peter Bofinger.
Via Spiegel (Google translated):
Coins and bills are obsolete and only reduce the influence of central banks. This position represents the economy Peter Bofinger. The federal government should stand up for the abolition of cash, he calls in the mirror…
The economy Peter Bofinger campaigns for the abolition of cash. “With today’s technical possibilities coins and notes are in fact an anachronism,” Bofinger told SPIEGEL.
If these away, the markets for undeclared work and drugs could be dried out. In addition, it would have the central banks easier to enforce its monetary policy.The teaching in Würzburg economics professor called on the federal government to promote at the international level for the abolition of cash. “That would certainly be a good topic for the agenda of the G-7 summit in Elmau,” he said. (Click here to read the full interview in the new mirror .)
Even the former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and economist pleaded for an end to the already cash . Likewise, the US economist Kenneth Rogoff . He also argued that the interest rates of central banks have less clout when banks or consumer credit rather than hoard cash.Critics warn, however , such debates would only distract from the real problems of the current monetary policy.
Yes, the “real problems” with current monetary policy. Like the fact that by design it can’t possibly work (but it can and will push stocks to unprecedented highs). Paging Mr. Weidmann, your countrymen are going Keynesian crazy.

Consumers are cautious and the economy remains weak. New data suggests that the U.S. economy may have actually shrank in Q1. Is the U.S. headed toward the same deflationary fate as Japan?