TENTATIVELY MEANINGFUL BUT PROBABLY USELESS

If you're looking for a good reason to know why the International Monetary Fund is dangerous to your financial health and future here it is. The IMF is a bureaucratic mess that symbolizes globalism and everything you should fear about globalism.

It's clear they are flying by the seat of your pants not theirs because you will be the ones to suffer as they work their destruction. It's should also be clear they have not a clue at this stage of what will and what will not work. This is a cold, indifferent, secretive clutch of bureaucrats with way too much power that should be disbanded.

Though they admit having little experience with negative interest rates, they "tentatively conclude that overall they help deliver additional monetary stimulus and easier financial conditions." Note too the phrase "probably supported stronger economic growth."

Tentatively and probably are two of the best hedge or CYA  terms in the entire lexicon of bureaucratic gobbledygook.You should also question the timing of this nonsense just before this big circus rolls into Washington this week and MSM will fall all over itself to spread their gospel.

We have a suggestion. Maybe these bureaucratic wonders should tentatively pick up their paychecks every payday, but probably never cash them.

Washington (AFP) - The IMF on Sunday defended negative interest rates set by central banks, given "significant risks" of slow growth, while acknowledging potential for dangerous boom-and-bust cycles.

Six central banks, notably the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, have taken the unprecedented measure, aimed at loosening the reins on credit to help spur consumer spending and investment.

"Although the experience with negative nominal interest rates is limited, we tentatively conclude that overall they help deliver additional monetary stimulus and easier financial conditions," three top officials at the International Monetary Fund wrote in a blog. 

It comes ahead of the IMF's annual Spring Meetings this week in Washington.

In mid-March, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that the unorthodox negative short-term rates, in which commercial banks pay central banks to hold their money, had probably supported stronger economic growth.

While in theory the concept should work, economists are closely studying what happens in Europe and Japan amid worries that negative rates could actually provoke businesses and consumers to be more cautious about spending.

The three IMF officials also had words of caution.

"Negative interest rates may induce boom and bust cycles in asset prices. These potential risks require close monitoring and supervisory scrutiny," they said.