Global money-printing signals economy in freefall

Desperate central banks running out of ammunition

The policy of quantitative easing – otherwise known as “printing” money – is being employed worldwide at a record-breaking pace, signaling to many analysts that the global economy is in freefall.

Central banks are spending $200 billion a month pumping money into their economies, buying bonds as a pace even higher than during the worst of the financial crisis in 2008, reports the digital global business news publication Quartz.

The emergency measure, however, doesn’t seem to be helping, with low growth persisting while interest rates hover near zero.

In the U.S., the Federal Reserve policy of printing money to buy Treasury Department-issued government debt began under President George W. Bush and accelerated under President Obama.

A chart produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows the adjusted monetary base of the United States rose from $1.772 trillion on Jan. 14, 2009, to $3.996 trillion on March 16, 2016.

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