The Great Negative Rates Experiment

``... in Denmark and Switzerland, this tool has succeeded only in its precise and limited purpose: to manage exchange rates with the euro. That finding will be of limited value to the Fed.''

See also banks discussing negative interest rates for consumers.

This is all getting more than just a little bit ridiculous. We suppose it doesn't occur to them (central bankers) that by pushing negative rates, even if successful, they would not only be killing but burying any semblance of a normal, functioning banking system. In a healthy banking system, you actually have banks wanting to attract deposits, since saving is the foundation of wealth-creation and hence returns. But in our upside-down, debt-based system pushed by the central banks, none of that matters -- they just want consumers to borrow and spend, to goose "GDP". Only in such a warped view could it be beneficial to chase deposits out of the bank.

Except, we're still in a general depression, so there's no way such a hare-brained maneuver is going to goose any type of spending that could be the foundation of sustainable economic growth.

Oi vey!