What WILL it Take?

In the midst of all the recent uproar, one anonymous Twitterer seized his chance to have his Uber-Warholian, 140-characters-of-fame moment and thundered: ‘Central banks are losing control of this market!’ no doubt eliciting whatever the social media equivalent of a cry of ‘Hear! Hear!’ and an approbatory nodding of the head might be from among his followers. Continue reading

Negative rates, Negative Outcomes

There has been much head-scratching of late as to why, with interest rates lower than they have been since the Universe first exploded out of the Void, businesses are not undertaking any where near as much investment as that hoped for beforehand by the academic cabal whose ‘effective demand’ and ‘transmission channel’ fixations have helped drive rates to today’s mind-boggling levels.

Continue reading

The Ballad of Alpha, the Bull’s Bull, All Geared

With all due credit to the great Irish songwriter Percy French for his comic ditty (tune here) which originally concerned the (once more horribly pertinent!) conflict between the Tsar and the Ottomans – one familiar to all true rugby fans in a decidedly more ribald version. When this was first published in the last days of 2007, it was offered as piece of seasonal levity regarding the dire state of financial markets which were already giving undeniable indications that the drama through which we were all living was headed to a very operatic denouement indeed.

Continue reading