Yra Harris makes the analogy: “Alfred E. Neuman of Mad Magazine fame would ask, ‘What, Me Worry?’ The other side of the equation would be Arthur Fonzarelli from the television show, ‘Happy Days.’ who would stutter before ever admitting that he was WRONG. The world’s central banks are a reflection of these two icons. It seems that Yellen, Draghi and Kuroda all suffer from both views. They have nothing to worry about and they certainly cannot admit to being wrong. The central banks are under attack from investors and traders for pursuing quantitative easing and negative yields even though the efficacy of such programs is certainly in doubt.” .. Harris points out how the balance sheets of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank & the Bank of Japan have reached significant proportions of the total amount of outstanding government debt – this has led to massive distortions in all asset classes .. “Well, the master theoreticians may want to lend an ear to seasoned practitioners and STOP THE PRESSES. Rescind the negative yields and let the markets have a greater hand in setting the price of bonds. BUT THAT WOULD MEAN THAT THE WORLD’S CENTRAL BANKS AND THEIR MODELS MAY HAVE TO ADMIT THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING WRONG. The first rule of being in a hole is (of course) stop digging. But the ECB and BOJ are doing the exact opposite: They continue digging. The ECB now is buying corporate debt, which is resulting in multinational firms issuing EURO-denominated instruments knowing there is a ready buyer and is pushing corporate bond prices to absurd levels. Again, central bank policy has broken the pricing mechanism of the global debt markets. It is not the $10 TRILLION of negative-yielding sovereign debt that WORRIES me but the $40 TRILLION of money being forced into assets that are not priced to the risk profile they carry. The number of quality voices speaking about the negative outcomes from FED policy should raise concerns from the world’s bankers, but instead we get Alfred E. Neuman.”