More than three years have passed since the Bank of England embarked on the emergency measure of quantitative easing.
At the time, it was considered very much a one-off. Nobody knew whether it would work, or indeed how it would work, but something had to be done to counter the collapse in money supply and credit.
Few would have imagined, even back then in the depths of the banking crisis, that all this time later it would still be going. Nor would they have thought it so ineffective. Despite the Bank’s actions in buying up nearly a third of the gilts market, the economy remains flat on its back, a pale shadow of its pre-crisis self. The best that can be said of QE is that things might have been even worse without it.
Well, the Bank has now exhausted the last tranche of asset purchases, and must decide on Thursday whether to do even more. There is little point this close to the event attempting to predict how the Monetary Policy Committee is going to vote. By midday we’ll know the answer.
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Afternoon Updates:
12:02 pm EDT, May 10th, 2012 — Europe’s nuclear brinkmanship with Greece is a lethal game
12:03 pm EDT, May 10th, 2012 — The lady’s not for turning
12:04 pm EDT, May 10th, 2012 — The euro must go
12:05 pm EDT, May 10th, 2012 — Specter of Greek exit from eurozone emerges in Brussels
12:06 pm EDT, May 10th, 2012 — With no government in sight Greece headed for fresh elections
12:08 pm EDT, May 10th, 2012 — How China’s drive to lower its surplus went awry
12:09 pm EDT, May 10th, 2012 — Europe faces ‘Lost Decade,’ Dutch central bank warns
12:10 pm EDT, May 10th, 2012 – The European Super Highway of Debt
Words of wisdom falling on deaf ears. Deaf? There’s hardly anyone there to hear them. Doesn’t anybody in this looney show ever show up to work? What a farce. People need to be going to jail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ6_Ey_MJV4&feature=player_embedded
The 12:10 pm link leads to a very interesting graph. Don’t miss it.