Christine Lagarde has one job and currently she is failing spectacularly
8.6% inflation! You had one Job, Christine. One Job.
It might be surprising to hear this, given her status, fame and power. But Christine Lagarde, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), literally has ONE JOB.
And she is failing spectacularly.
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Her job? To keep the prices in the Eurozone “stable”.
Now, conveniently the EU-contract assigning this ONE JOB to the ECB doesn’t define “price stability”. In fact - and this is no joke - the ECB get’s to define itself what it’s ONE JOB looks like.
First, the genius economists getting paid boatloads of money by the European taxpayers decided that “price stability” is happening as long as the prices rise by “close to but under two percent a year”.
Now, before some know-it-all comes around and points out that rising prices aren’t in fact “stable”, let’s stick with the facts as defined by the bureaucrats, ok?
They actually figured this out themselves after a couple of years and redefined their own goal. No joke.
So now “price stability” is defined as “prices rising by exactly two percent a year”.
Yeah, I know.
But here is the kicker: Christine Lagarde still spectacularly fails even this ONE JOB.
Prices in the Eurozone are currently rising by 8.6%.
And let me tell you, Europeans are pissed. Especially those living in the once “stable” northern countries where noone alive has ever seen such high inflation numbers.
Oh! And the best part?
Lagarde has given up and is now expecting to fail at her job at least through 2024. That’s how long she expects inflation to stay above the goals the ECB set for itself.
Well I guess we need to be thankful they don’t just move the goalposts again and define “price stability” at 8.6%. For now.
Till next time, Niko
“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.”
Ernest Hemingway
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