03/20/2015 - Financial Repression Consequences: Central Banks are Punishing Savers For the Benefit of Governments & the Banks
“These days, interest rates tell us little about a nation’s creditworthiness .. The culprit behind this mess is a familiar one: central banks. Targeted rate reductions, quantitative easing, and other easy-money shenanigans have pushed rates to the floor .. and through it in some cases. Germany, Switzerland, Japan, France, Holland, and even troubled Italy are among the growing number of countries with negative-yielding government bonds. Negative-interest-rate policies (NIRP) have even spilled over into the corporate world. This upside-down environment makes it difficult for investors to grasp underlying economic conditions, especially since there’s no historic precedent. Credit has never been so abundant. The world has also never had so many currencies deadlocked in a race to the bottom. We are truly in uncharted territory .. Artificially suppressed rates have punished savers, encouraged reckless consumerism, and spurred share buyback crazes in the United States and Japan—a trend that’s likely to pick up in Europe now that the European Central Bank has begun its own bond-buying program .. Monetary policy is the only game in town.”
– Casey Research
