Print money!

[macdarawhitfield]

Quantitative easing; let's hope it's easier to do than to pronounce.As I understand it the Bank of England is printing money to buy it's own gilt edged securities as well as commercial shares.Normally this would be madness and lead to Weimar type inflation.But with economies all round the place shrinking there is no more chance of inflation than there is of Michael O Leary joining the Green Party.The market seems to approve too.

What about Ireland though,wouldn't this kind of stimulus be better than hacking your own limbs off? We can't export our human beings any more;everyone else is in the sh*t as well.

They'd find it soon enough for the bankers.

[manbearpig]

its not that easy for ireland, and any euro country.

It seems that there is a legal mess, whereby the European Central Bank and National Central Banks arent sure who among them has the power or authority to do this even if they wanted to.....

[macdarawhitfield]

its not that easy for ireland, and any euro country.

It seems that there is a legal mess, whereby the European Central Bank and National Central Banks arent sure who among them has the power or authority to do this even if they wanted to.....

Fair enough - it's all Greek to me anyway.Just seems weird that govts in Europe ,Japan ,USA ,UK are spending money ,in various ways, to try and get demand going again.Whereas Lenihan can't seem to see past cuts,cuts and more cuts.Germany is spending big on Public Transport,Obama seems to be going for renewables- all farsighted stuff.And they will have something tangible at the end of this recession.What will we have,maybe a few 'enterprising' chaps running courses with titles like :'How to get your Green card.'

[_soma_]

Normally this would be madness and lead to Weimar type inflation.

Why should this time be any different? Remember that thinking "this time, it's different" helped us to get into this mess.

But with economies all round the place shrinking there is no more chance of inflation

I for one see serious Stagflation in our future.

Neither credit, nor paper, is capital. If it were, why don't we just solve hunger in Africa by printing paper..?

[QuizMaster]

Future generations might value blank paper more than paper despoiled with printers' ink.

It's a pity we can't print food.

[Castleknocker]

Whereas Lenihan can't seem to see past cuts,cuts and more cuts.

I would have thought €15Billion is stimulus enough in one year

[Hazlitt]

The economy is shrinking after being pushed artificially to unsustainable levels following the massive credit exapansion we've had in this country in recent years.

The printing of money will only eventually lead to inflation, and the eroding of people's savings, and the impoverishment of the unskilled and uneducated, elderly and poorer people.

We need to accumulate capital in this country, encourage savings and production. Note that the keyword here is encourage, I do not mean letting the government go and set up random programs for work and diverting our labour markets into unproductive areas. We need to set a framework where enterprise and work can be carried out and thrive without interference or distortion by government intervention.

We need to reduce the penalties that discourage more savings, investment and labour - i.e. taxes/levies in all these areas.

We need to incentivise industry and business to set up in Ireland instead of other countries, and if this means an incentive such as low/no taxes (even for a defined period such as 10-15 years) then so be it.

Failing banks should be consigned to the scrapheap and lets allow savers to invest in new, robust and healthy banks, giving new confidence to the people, business and the international markets. At the same time lets redesign the framework in which banks operate. Lets increase reserve requirements to 100% and repeal the legal tender laws to allow foreign and private currencies compete with the euro for individual and business use.

We need to lighten or eliminate all the red-tape that hinders business. Business should be helped and encouraged, not stifled and smothered.

All of the above will allow the people of the country the opportunity to drag us out of the mess we're in. Central Banks printing more money will not fix anything, it will make things dramatically worse and prolong / deepen this recession for many years to come.
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