Catch - 22

Financial markets have entered a strange new phase where the actual effects of monetary policy matter far less than belief in central bank control. The policies everyone prays for would barely move the economy if implemented, yet without the performance of these prayers, confidence collapses. The system is stable only because everyone agrees to participate in the ritual, regardless of whether it solves anything.

• Markets are no longer asking whether central bank bond-buying will actually help the economy. They're asking whether the central banks will perform the ritual at all. The actual economic impact is almost beside the point.

• The media created a deflation crisis by counting only food and energy prices. Core inflation was already rising, but the narrative existed because markets needed something to pray about, not because the threat was real.

• Every structural reform and real fiscal fix is gridlocked because monetary policy keeps the system just functional enough. Central banks prevent the economic pain that might actually force necessary changes.

• This creates a self-reinforcing trap where each disappointment demands louder prayers for the next announcement. The ritual can only be sustained by escalation, each time asking the gods to do more than they did before.

• The system works perfectly as long as everyone keeps believing in it. But there's a difference between a cult's stability and its fragility. When gods stop delivering what their followers expect, the entire edifice can shatter very quickly.