A Broken & Crumbling World

By Wilfred Hahn ((Eternal Value Review)

World money systems are becoming increasingly dysfunctional and broken. Most concerning of all is the continuing slide into monetary immorality. This term, of course, has no traction amongst most policymakers and in spheres of monetary economics. No matter…regular readers of this newsletter will still adhere to the ideas of absolute truth and a difference between right and wrong, not the “end justifies the means” nor the supremacy of expediency.

Readers may ask, if things are so broken, then why have stock markets been soaring to new highs in past months? To that we would answer that financial market trends have very little relationship to true prosperity. Financial markets have utterly no role in determining what is right and true. That would be entirely dependent on the morality of its human participants and those that control or influence financial markets and economies.

The fact that financial markets have been soaring is due to massive monetary manipulation, economic imbalances and the willing gamesmanship of those that influence and/or control capital movements. While financial markets (and lately, even real estate markets) are again dangerously inflating — largely flamed by the all-time unprecedented and global money manipulations of central banks and other financial institutions — household income growth is stagnant (even as corporate earnings in the U.S. are almost 2.5 times the norm relative to the size of the economy), youth unemployment is at peak levels, labor force participation is sinking, and wealth distribution is becoming ever more concentrated. This is a foundation that will eventually lead to social breakdown.

Just how much further can central banks push such arbitrary and inflated conditions? While there can be no doubt that current policies will lead to ultimate collapse, further and increased manipulation is still very possible. In fact, we would even say this is likely. How so? Because trends in human values toward relativism and materialism continue to accelerate. Indeed, more monetary manipulation will continue to deceive and furthermore, requires experts in greed without conscience.

No doubt there do exist some sensible central bankers. However, they are in the small minority and are considered to be unimaginative. One of these is Jens Weidman, President of the German Bundesbank, who recently commented: “A point that I think is important to make—perhaps less for my central bank colleagues than for finance ministers—is that the medication monetary policy makers administer only cures the symptoms and that it comes with side-effects and risk.” He is correct. That said, we doubt that he will survive much longer in his current position. With Japan on a “kamikaze” warpath of reducing the value of its currency (down some 40% against the euro in a matter of months) it will not take long for Germany’s export economy to be lamed. Then, very few will have any appetite for austerity policies. The rampant recklessness of unorthodox monetary policies will be seen to be wise and brilliant.

One illustration of such so-called brilliance was on display recently at the INET conference in Hong Kong.

There, celebrated policymaker and claimed scholar, Lord Adair Turner gave a keynote presentation on a monetary policy prescription that he called Overt Permanent Money Finance or OPMF. It sounded impressive and learned but in reality it was something very simple…a new and massive form of theft. In short, he validated a new policy frontier for central bank chicanery and sleight-of-hand. We would consider Mr. Adair’s recent speech as the “coming out” of OPMF.

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