Are Central Banks Losing Control?

[Hydrogen]

Eight years after the crisis of 2008-09, central banks are still injecting $200 billion a month into the global financial system to keep it from imploding.

If you want a central banker to choke on his croissant, read him this quote from socio-historian Immanuel Wallerstein: "Countries (have lost the ability) to control what happens to them in the ongoing life of the modern world-system."
Stated another way, Wallerstein is asking: what do central banks no longer control?
The quote is from Wallerstein's recent meditation on China: China is Confident: How Realistic?
"The question is how realistic is this self-assessment of China? There are two premises embedded in China’s self-confidence, whose validity need to be investigated. The first is that countries, or rather the governments of states, can actually control what is happening to them in the world-economy. The second is that countries can effectively contain popular discontent, whether by suppression or by limited concessions to demands.
If this was ever even partially true in the modern world-system, these assertions have become very dubious in the structural crisis of the world capitalist system in which we find ourselves today."

Central banks still claim absolute control over their currency, interest rates,what's legal/outlawed in their financial systems, and so on.
Wallerstein is suggesting that era has ended and central banks are losing control of the value of their currency, their role in the global economy and the social discontent that is the ripening harvest of central bank policies that have greatly enriched the rich at the expense of everyone else.
I don't think Wallerstein picked China out a hat. Though every central bank is experiencing the same erosion of control, China is visibly losing control of the value of its currency, the yuan, and its runaway debt burden, which has skyrocketed from less than 20 trillion RMB 13 years ago to over 160 trillion RMB.



This matters because instability in a nation's currency quickly spreads to the economy and then to society: as a currency depreciates, the value of everyone's money declines, i.e. the purchasing power of their money is diminished.
When a currency is devalued, everyone holding that currency is instantly poorer.
When people become poorer through no fault of their own, they become angry with the authorities who engineered the devaluation or let it happen.
This leads to the social discontent Wallerstein references.
Another erosion of purchasing power occurs when wages stagnate while the price of goods and services rises. Can central banks control the erosion of wages' purchasing power? There is little evidence they can.

As for a central bank's control of its role in the global economy: those confident in China's ascent to global #1 power assume China will remain the world's workshop at least until its domestic populace can absorb all the goods it produces.
But it seems increasingly evident China's role as the world's workshop is under threat, and that it doesn't control the erosion of that role. Domestic populism is trending against globalism, wages are rising in China as the populace urbanizes, prices are rising faster than wages and the potential for disruptive trade wars is rising.
As for what's outlawed/banned: recently, I've been engaged in some lively online debates about the possibility of China banning bitcoin transactions.
Most people in the discussion reckon China (or any government with a high degree of control of its populace) can shut down bitcoin with no difficulty. The threat of a severe penalty would be enough, or so I'm told.
I'm not so sure. Look what prohibiting alcohol did: it created an entire economy devoted to bypassing the authorities' restrictions on alcohol. The penalties were fairly severe, but threats didn't work when profits beckoned.
If a nation's currency is losing purchasing power, threats are unlikely to be effective. Indeed, threatening the populace as they try to retain the purchasing power of their capital/savings would be an act of desperation born of a recognized loss of control.

Wallerstein is right: central banks--including the Federal Reserve-- are losing control of the value of their currencies, their role in the global economy and the social discontent that arises as central bank policies negatively impact average citizens.
It's by no means guaranteed that central banks will be able to maintain their death-grip on interest rates, either.
Eight years after the crisis of 2008-09, central banks are still injecting $200 billion a month into the global financial system to keep it from imploding. The returns on their "investment" is diminishing rapidly, and they're losing control of everything that matters.



http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2017/03/are-central-banks-losing-control.html

Are central banks losing control? There could be evidence for it.

The bubble can't be inflated forever, at a certain point it will pop.   

Many common financial policies and social programs are acknowledged as being unsustainable.

What does everyone think about this?

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[Idrisu]

Most of the banking police and regulatory laws are against the poorest in our society and that is why central bank programs and roles create more poor people around the world.they claim absolute control over their currencies, interest rate e.t.c but why are we having harper inflation in almost all the developing countries and some developed countries?

[LeGaulois]

Central banks are not losing control only, in my opinion. They are also losing their mind. Since long time now but only recently people start to see it clearly. But thinking that China can shut down bitcoin with no problems as it is say in the article is just silly i think. And the Central Bank does not set interest rates nor any other fees or charges

[Scott J]

Central banks are not losing control only, in my opinion. They are also losing their mind. Since long time now but only recently people start to see it clearly. But thinking that China can shut down bitcoin with no problems as it is say in the article is just silly i think. And the Central Bank does not set interest rates nor any other fees or charges

China could easily mess with Bitcoin transactions within China if they wanted to. See here: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/11/evil_isps_could_disrupt_bitcoins_blockchain/

Also who do you think sets interest rates if not Central Banks?

[mindrust]

They are not losing control of their own currencies. They are losing power because of the other asshole central banks who print more money than they do.  

BoJ for example no matter how many bills they print every year, they can't stop deflation. They lost the control once because  of the asshole FED.

ECB, FED, BoE, BoC are in a money printing race. Whoever prints the most FIAT will win. When they stop printing, people will buy the other CB's cheaper stuff  . They can't stop printing. They won't.

[alani123]

They are not losing control of their own currencies. They are losing power because of the other asshole central banks who print more money than they do.  

BoJ for example no matter how many bills they print every year, they can't stop deflation. They lost the control once because  of the asshole FED.

ECB, FED, BoE, BoC are in a money printing race. Whoever prints the most FIAT will win. When they stop printing, people will buy the other CB's cheaper stuff  . They can't stop printing. They won't.

That'd be an argument against more centralization if we are to assume that competition is bad among central banks. IMHO, the fact that certain currencies have less inflation could be perceived as an advantage at times of financial stability but sadly that's not the kind of phase the global economy is currently going through.

[Labumi]

Most of the banking police and regulatory laws are against the poorest in our society and that is why central bank programs and roles create more poor people around the world.they claim absolute control over their currencies, interest rate e.t.c but why are we having harper inflation in almost all the developing countries and some developed countries?

Hmm, I might have a point. Because most of the developing countries that have debt from banks will certainly experience inflation, because it is a system of the bank give a heavier burden for borrowers. Because the bank is also where the profiteers, hopefully this can be immediately in the evaluation so that in the future all of them can run with lancara, if not then I have predictions that bitcoin is going to be a helper or in the currency used by most of the developing countries
 

[ethereumhunter]

i think central banks is not losing control and they still operate with good and they give their service to their members. i don't think that bitcoin will affect too much with them because until now bitcoin is not already accepted in many country and only few country accepted and many banks in the world is not having any problem. but we don't know about what is going on with china central bank as the central bank will not telling to us if they are really losing control.

[pitham1]

They are losing control because people are losing faith in them.
When this happens, more and more people will turn to gold. Or to Bitcoin - the digital gold.

[Yuhee]

Most of the banking police and regulatory laws are against the poorest in our society and that is why central bank programs and roles create more poor people around the world.they claim absolute control over their currencies, interest rate e.t.c but why are we having harper inflation in almost all the developing countries and some developed countries?

take example the zembabwe currency. there money is close to worthless in other countries but there bank still print money. because its the only it could get a regulation but its only in their country. another example that is not 3rd world is south korea 1k won is just 1 dollar but they are not a 3rd world. its just that there produces a lot of money with the same reason but off course koreans are know internationally but still there banks keep on printing more money.

[Shiroslullaby]

Yes and the bubble will burst, eventually. 
But it might not be for another twenty, fifty, hundred years.
Eventually Mad Max will become a reality. Roaming gangs fighting over water and gasoline.
It probably won't happen in our lives. But its definitely worth diversifying your assets into things like gold and digital currency if you have some extra money.

[sportis]

It is a fact that banks lose the control because of this they have launched a war against the cash using a variety of reasons. This can be seen at an international level with the recent example of India. In essence, what they want is not be circulated money outside the banking system. The explanation is simple; A bank account is essentially nothing but a promise of money which that they(banks) can refuse if they consider it appropriate.

[Images21]

I think banking needs a reshuffle. They are controlling nearly everything through their manipulations which is annoying.

[timerland]

I think banking needs a reshuffle. They are controlling nearly everything through their manipulations which is annoying.

Indeed, I have to agree with you that we should make something with because the banks are constantly harvesting the whole world population, except the most wealthy units which actually control these banks.
Another important issue is that literally every god damn country is supporting the banks in making the society even more poor, by letting them continue their exploiting.

Why are they allowed to lend someone the money they dont really have?
If all of the bank customers would want to withdraw all their money at the one moment, the bank would go bankrupt. So tell me why are they allowed by goverments to do that?
I cannot lend someone the money I dont have, but banks can. Seems fair, huh?

[Supercrypt]

Any entity without reasons will not survive and I believe this is time for banks to change themselves. By considering bitcoin as game changer, we can expect the total banking concept itself may get fade away. When people are not finding their comfort with banking system, it would be obvious that banks will lose their dominance.

[pixie85]

Their debt is virtual. Most countries are in debt, mostly to banks and they can't possibly pay it back. Check the debt of any large economy, be it an EU country, USA or any other. They all have large debts that grows each year and they will never be able to pay it back until it starts eating up so much of their GDP that the only thing to do will be to go bankrupt, like Cyprus, or rebel, like Iceland and stop counting. China could stop counting right now, because they won't be able to pay it back, so why bother.

[BitcoinPanther]

Any entity without reasons will not survive and I believe this is time for banks to change themselves. By considering bitcoin as game changer, we can expect the total banking concept itself may get fade away. When people are not finding their comfort with banking system, it would be obvious that banks will lose their dominance.

Hmm,  Banks exist because of a reason, certainly bank will survive.  They are critical for to the stability of world wide financial system and the government themselves won't allow it to collapse.  We can  see Bitcoin long faded but Banks, never.


Central Banks maybe losing control at this point but they are always evolving, changing policies and rules to adopt for the current situation,  they are even backed by the government legislation to make sure that they are always strengthen.  Once they had adjusted, they will again regain control.

[audaciousbeing]

It might be difficult but I don't think the central banks are losing it just yet because from the way I see it, they are the ones that holds the nation economic fabric together and without that everything would have been something else. It is true that they are not perfect but from where I come from, without the central bank intervening in the forces of demand if supply of whether goods or money, we would have been worse than the trying times of countries that have suffered worse and I am sure its like that in other countries if not more.

[grobura]

Any entity without reasons will not survive and I believe this is time for banks to change themselves. By considering bitcoin as game changer, we can expect the total banking concept itself may get fade away. When people are not finding their comfort with banking system, it would be obvious that banks will lose their dominance.

Hmm,  Banks exist because of a reason, certainly bank will survive.  They are critical for to the stability of world wide financial system and the government themselves won't allow it to collapse.  We can  see Bitcoin long faded but Banks, never.


Central Banks maybe losing control at this point but they are always evolving, changing policies and rules to adopt for the current situation,  they are even backed by the government legislation to make sure that they are always strengthen.  Once they had adjusted, they will again regain control.

I also think that the banks will survive. They are controlled by the government. Banks control the distribution and flow of maternity money. Without them, the functioning of the monetary system is no longer possible.

[JeffBrad12]

Any entity without reasons will not survive and I believe this is time for banks to change themselves. By considering bitcoin as game changer, we can expect the total banking concept itself may get fade away. When people are not finding their comfort with banking system, it would be obvious that banks will lose their dominance.

Hmm,  Banks exist because of a reason, certainly bank will survive.  They are critical for to the stability of world wide financial system and the government themselves won't allow it to collapse.  We can  see Bitcoin long faded but Banks, never.


Central Banks maybe losing control at this point but they are always evolving, changing policies and rules to adopt for the current situation,  they are even backed by the government legislation to make sure that they are always strengthen.  Once they had adjusted, they will again regain control.

I also think that the banks will survive. They are controlled by the government. Banks control the distribution and flow of maternity money. Without them, the functioning of the monetary system is no longer possible.

Bank is not controlled by the government. Bank stand with its legs. The government just give a permission to the bank to building his business in the country.

But in this time bank is being a financial authority for the government.

But, do you ever try to see KUBA? There is no central bank in there that the bank controlling his monetary system.

But all of his monetary systems is run smoothly.

[PokerFace3]

Any entity without reasons will not survive and I believe this is time for banks to change themselves. By considering bitcoin as game changer, we can expect the total banking concept itself may get fade away. When people are not finding their comfort with banking system, it would be obvious that banks will lose their dominance.

You mean to say banks are not fit for human anymore and they will get replaced by decentralized concept based ideas ? I think you are making sense but banks are with us for centuries and if they are not in comfortable zones of human, I guess they would have found their end some long time back itself.

There are enough discussions about banking system getting replaced by bitcoin and I am not going into that. But bitcoin is getting popular and that may lead to another era in terms of how financial institutes contribute/dominate to human life.

[Supercrypt]

I just found an new article related to this discussion : 88% of global banks sweat over losing revenue to FinTech firms
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/pwc-report-global-banks-fintech-concern

Any entity without reasons will not survive and I believe this is time for banks to change themselves. By considering bitcoin as game changer, we can expect the total banking concept itself may get fade away. When people are not finding their comfort with banking system, it would be obvious that banks will lose their dominance.

You mean to say banks are not fit for human anymore and they will get replaced by decentralized concept based ideas ? I think you are making sense but banks are with us for centuries and if they are not in comfortable zones of human, I guess they would have found their end some long time back itself.

You can go more specific like bitcoin is that idea and I believe it is already happening. Just check the above cryptocoinnews link, it is the very good evidence that banks are getting replaced. Banks may be here for years but they are failing to as per modern thinking of common bank. They are favoring people in power all the times but not for the common people. I guess this alone more than enough for banks to lose their control.

[dothebeats]

Any entity without reasons will not survive and I believe this is time for banks to change themselves. By considering bitcoin as game changer, we can expect the total banking concept itself may get fade away. When people are not finding their comfort with banking system, it would be obvious that banks will lose their dominance.

Hmm,  Banks exist because of a reason, certainly bank will survive.  They are critical for to the stability of world wide financial system and the government themselves won't allow it to collapse.  We can  see Bitcoin long faded but Banks, never.


Central Banks maybe losing control at this point but they are always evolving, changing policies and rules to adopt for the current situation,  they are even backed by the government legislation to make sure that they are always strengthen.  Once they had adjusted, they will again regain control.

I also think that the banks will survive. They are controlled by the government. Banks control the distribution and flow of maternity money. Without them, the functioning of the monetary system is no longer possible.

It actually goes the other way around: banks control the government. These endless, bloody wars are being financed by banks in order to gain more and more money on their stashes. Also, do you think that most of the powerful leaders really act on their own for their country's sake? Think again. These blokes are actually acting holy so that people would entrust them more and in turn, keep the banks lessh on us people for more generations to come. For 300 or so years we are being controlled; the money we thought is ours is actually owned by them, and it ultimately ends up to them.

[Hydrogen]

Wallerstein is right: central banks--including the Federal Reserve-- are losing control of the value of their currencies, their role in the global economy and the social discontent that arises as central bank policies negatively impact average citizens.
It's by no means guaranteed that central banks will be able to maintain their death-grip on interest rates, either.
Eight years after the crisis of 2008-09, central banks are still injecting $200 billion a month into the global financial system to keep it from imploding. The returns on their "investment" is diminishing rapidly, and they're losing control of everything that matters.

I think this is a good summary of OP article ^.

$200 billion a month requirements for the global financial system to avoid collapse seems unsustainble to me.

Which could infer the question what happens when such "quantitative easing" programs are no longer tenable?

There was another article I read which claimed banks profit from those QE programs.

There could be some conflicting info, present.

[Qartersa]

Based on my readings, I must say there is a bit of erosion on Central Bank's end given the birth of online currencies like Bitcoin. It is so because the prevalence of Bitcoins does not need a centralized management for it to be operative and useful unlike that of legal tenders. Also, there is a widespread usage of Bitcoin in the online world that cannot be denied. Perhaps, some companies already accept it as a form of payment notwithstanding any governmental regulation to the contrary.   

[webtricks]

Based on my readings, I must say there is a bit of erosion on Central Bank's end given the birth of online currencies like Bitcoin. It is so because the prevalence of Bitcoins does not need a centralized management for it to be operative and useful unlike that of legal tenders. Also, there is a widespread usage of Bitcoin in the online world that cannot be denied. Perhaps, some companies already accept it as a form of payment notwithstanding any governmental regulation to the contrary.   

I don't think the same. Ask a Central Bank employee of your country if you get a chance, he will be burden as same as he was 10 years back. Central Bank is authoritative body for currency control in country. Till now, I don't feel that Cryptocurrencies have been able enough to dilute any importance of national currencies of the countries. So, even Central Bank has similar control over money in economy as it was having before inception of virtual currencies. Moreover, its hold on currency circulation has been rather increased due to increasing inflation. 

[olushakes]

I will agree that they are really losing it because here in my country, the central bank with all their various policies here and there have not been able to curb the rate at which inflation is happen when they themselves do not understand what is even going on in the system. What they are just doing now is what I regard as trial and error approach to solving problems of the economy.

[Pab]

Central banks are serving banksters,sure thay have lost controll but so what banksters have enough money on his secret accounts to survive if there is not enough thay will take our money,now money are just digital numbers in banks books