Infinitely stupid

Reading a recent issue of "MoneyWeek", I was struck by a comment in the editorial, which was entitled "Infinitely stupid".  In the editorial the following comments were made regarding the decision by the US Federal Reserve (the US' central bank) to allow quantitative easing (QE), or money printing, ad infinitum :

"...Dylan Grice of Société Générale ...is ...unimpressed.  QE Infinity isn't just debasing global currencies ...it is debasing our society.  At its most fundamental level, "economic activity is no more than an exchange between strangers".  It depends on trust between those strangers.  And as money is the agent of exchange it must also be the agent of trust.  Debase it and you debase trust.  Let's not forget that "history is replete with Great Disorders in which social cohesion has been undermined by currency debasements".  Might we be headed in the same direction?"

5th October 2012,  Merryn Somerset Webb, Editor, MoneyWeek

The funny / spooky / worrying thing is that when dropping my daughter off at the school bus this morning, the driver told me Obama had been re-elected President of the US.  I hadn't heard, not being an avid news follower.  The brief conversation wound on about the global financial mess, then he said, "I think it will come to war.  Looking back on history there always is one when capitalism is in crisis."

He's noticed.  I've noticed.  Who else has?

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