A Bloomberg editorial on what the ECB needs to do is rather amusing. The article headline, albeit true in and of itself, contradicts the body of the article. Let’s take a look.
ECB Cannot Save EuropeÂ
The Bloomberg editorial board says Not Even Mario Draghi Can Save Europe Now.
I certainly agree with that title. Had that been the entire article in and of itself, I would have said “the Bloomberg editorial board gets it”.
Unfortunately, the editors didn’t stop with the headline. Instead the editors proposed “The ECB needs to surprise financial markets with a bigger-than-expected announcement.“
It gets better …
The board says Draghi should go for outright shock and awe. …. He could say that monetary policy, as he understands it, includes the option of “helicopter money” — and that the bank would shortly begin sending out checks to every EU citizen.
Such a scheme would be illegal of course. But hey, that’s no problem.Â
Legal or not, helicopter money would be a frontal repudiation of the monetary conservatism that Germany’s government and others have sought to impose on the bank.
Not even Draghi can save Europe, but let’s do illegal things anyway to prove it. Wow.
Eurozone Structural Problems
The problems in Europe are insurmountable, and well understood by many.
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- No fiscal union
- Wildly differing social agendas of member states
- Wide variances in productivity
- Wage discrepancies
- Retirement benefit discrepancies
- One size fits all monetary policy
- To make treaty changes every eurozone country must agree
- Target2 imbalances
What the hell good would even €5 trillion in QE do to fix those?
What good would it do if the ECB bought every bond from every country and pushed rates to zero across the board? How would it fix any structural problem?
More QE Will Not Help the World, says Mervyn KingÂ
I seldom agree with central bankers, especially when they hold that position. On occasion, however, once outside their official role, they regain some sense of sanity.
For example, More QE will not help the world, says Mervyn King.Â
