Are Central Bankers at the End of Their Rope?: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression

Problems & contradictions of central banking -- Evolution of central banking: functions, targets & tools -- Central bank independence: but from whom? -- Hamilton's curse: the 1st bank of the United States -- The 2nd US bank & the depression of 1837-43 -- National banking goes bust: three crashes -- The US Federal Reserve Bank: origins & toxic legacies -- Greenspan's bank: the "typhon" monster released -- Bernanke's bank: Greenspan's "put" on steroids -- The Bank of Japan: harbinger of things that came -- The European Central Bank under German hegemony -- The Bank of England's last hurrah: from QE to brexit -- The People's Bank of China chases its shadows -- Yellen's bank: from Taper tantrums to Trump trade -- Concluding chapter: central bankers at the end of their rope? An historically unprecedented state subsidization of the US financial system has been implemented since 2010 via the Federal Reserve, the US central bank. Oiginally designed to serve as lender of last resort during banking crises, central banking globally has been transformed into the subsidization of the private banking system. Today that system is addicted to, and increasingly dependent on, continuing central bank infusions of significant amounts of liquidity. Rescinding this artificial subsidization would almost certainly lead to a financial and real collapse of the global economy. Central banks will not be able any time soon to retreat from their massive liquidity injections. Nor will they find it possible to raise their interest rates much beyond brief token adjustments. Truly, central bankers are at the end of their rope. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of this urgent dilemma and proposes how to revolutionize central banking in the public interest. Central banks are becoming a force of economic destabilisation in the 21st century. The basic functions of central banks-whether managing money supply, supervising private banks, bailing out failing banks, stabilising prices, promoting real investment, employment and growth-have all entered a state of increasing decay, breakdown and failure.