For the past 20 years, the world has careened from one greater and greater insolvency shock to another. Each time, central banks have been summoned to the ‘rescue’ deploying increasingly more aggressive monetary magic. But after 9 years at near zero rates and trillions in asset buying to extend and pretend the appearance of economic prosperity, reality is dawning once more as the global economy slows and liquidity retreats to reveal even larger debt and sustainability problems.
We have long noted that business and market media propaganda are dominated by “America’s most wanted” financial experts and policy advisors. In truth these people are “The world’s most wanted”, and in the coming cyclical bear market/recession and secular reset, financial loss and social upheaval will confirm the mind boggling extent of the harm they have wrought.
Although many individuals have also too readily abdicated personal responsibility and gone along for the ride of money for nothing and spend your way to prosperity, in the end ‘financial experts’ who have been unduly elevated, praised and paid in the great debt fueled-asset-inflation-Ponzi, will be obvious and deserving targets of public anger. Their job and fiduciary duty was to help protect the security and stability of the financial system. In that, they have failed utterly. Here they are in a recent mug group shot. See Albert Edwards: Central banks are the next sacrificial lambs to throw to the wolves’ of populist rage.
Greed and self-delusion have no doubt played a role, but also hubris and wilful blindness (still a culpable state of mind in law). It is unlikely these folks will see (or ever admit) the catastrophic error of their ways. For others however, recovery to a brighter more sustainable future will require the usual steps: admit, repent and reform.