ALL THINGS LOCAL

 

Just two weeks ago this illustrious group of policy wonks met.

Not much came out of that meeting except the usual round of MSM reported economic hand wringing. The last meeting was in Australia. This one is here, in Washington, otherwise known as Brussels West.

As noted in the link below, the U.S. will push for the ECB to do more to bolt the EU from its current economic morass. Some will claim ECB President Mario Draghi has already tossed everything including the EU kitchen sink at the problem without any meaningful response.

The Germans will come under fire for their lockstep allegiance to what no politician or bureaucrat worthy of the moniker ever wants, economic and structural reform.

Naysayers and Keynesian government stimulus huggers will call for what they feel is the only real global economic life preserver, QE American style.

Here's a quote from Jens Weidmann earlier today that sort of summarizes the situation.

Berlin (AFP) - Germany's central bank chief Jens Weidmann voiced concern about the European Central Bank's latest asset purchase plan to stimulate the eurozone's moribund economy, in an interview published Sunday.

ECB president Mario Draghi on Thursday announced purchases starting later this year of covered bonds and asset-backed securities (ABS) to inject cash into the ailing economy of the currency bloc.

Bundesbank president Weidmann told Focus news weekly that if the ECB buys loans of "weaker quality" then "credit risks assumed by private banks would then be passed on to the central bank and thus the taxpayer without adequate compensation".

ABS are bundles of individual loans such as mortgages, auto credit and credit-card debt which are sold on to investors, allowing banks to share the risk of default and freeing up funds to offer more credit.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/german-central-bank-chief-criticises-ecb-asset-purchase-143447134.html

In truth only three things will come out of this grand collection of policy wonks: The meeting will come, the meeting will go and little else. And that's putting it kindly.

Hong Kong is about local. And so too was Scotland and other so-called disturbances. The move toward localization is a shot across the interventionist, centralist bow of Berlin, Brussels, Washington and, yes,10 Downing Street.

Once the idea sinks in and people realize that the only forte bureaucrats and politicians possess is making promises, the push for all things local will gather even more steam.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/austerity-vs-growth-version-3-0-g20-imf