Where are the post of TreadmillTrader ??? what happened to him ?
Well, IMHO, the ECB's independence is a matter of construction, rather than anything particularly European...Quote from Misthos:
The ECB's political independence, at least relative to the Fed Reserve, is more of a European phenomena, not a banking phenomena.
There's a reason the US does not have cheaper/more available health care, genetically modified foods, less public transportation... than Europe.
That reason is private sector corporate control of the government. Europe is more responsive to its people and democracy.
Quote from Martinghoul:
To SNB: I disagree with you on one fundamental point. You seem to think that a fully deregulated, completely private economy is more optimal in the long run. I think that such an economy will always run into coordination issues. Most trivial example is bank runs. This implies that there's a need for some sort of a non-mkt public entity.


Quote from maxitronixy:
that's when discussing policy , ti's most ambogious. It's like sayiny what it would be like asking what it would be like if there wasn't a central bank.
the most distrubing thing is the cynics have a point looking at the state of the economy.

Quote from morganist:
i think one of the main problems is the methods used to control aggregate demand have other economic impact. for example interest rate alterations have repayment and return affects on lenders and borrowers. however the interest rate has been set to meet inflation targets. the other factors are more important and that is now realised. there is an alternative find a way of controlling aggregate demand that does not have other consequences.
