Central bankers can be likened to the Greek mythological character Sisyphus. He was condemned by the gods to roll a huge boulder up a steep hill, only to watch it roll down again and have to repeat the task for all eternity. The men in charge of central banks seem to face a similar unfortunate fate—although not for eternity—of watching their successes dissolve in failure. Their goal is a strong economy and stable prices. This is, however, the very environment that breeds the sort of overoptimism and speculation that eventually ends up destabilizing the economy. In the United States during the
...more
