The general idea always made sense, but saving the bankers never made any sense to anyone outside of the bankers and the political class. One would hope that Europe learned a few lessons but there's nothing to suggest that's the case. There's also no proof that quantitative easing has done anything other than to put more easy cash into the hands of bankers who then drive up commodity prices, just because they can. CNBC:
The European Central Bank already has begun its own version of quantitative easing, the program used by the Federal Reserve to recapitalize banks during the financial crisis that exploded in 2008, said Bove, vice president of equity research at Rochdale Securities.
At the same time, Bove said the ECB is well on its way to a "partial nationalization" of European banks, in which it will take equity stakes in the institutions as it seeks to stabilize the financial system.
The end result could be a boon for banks in the US and elsewhere that will benefit from the pain their European competitors will have to endure, Bove believes.
