Is quantitative easing the new norm?

For many, quantitative easing has become something of an addiction.

Is quantitative easing the new norm?
These days, I spent a good deal of time listening to podcasts. While I'm traveling, I find it an efficient and beneficial way to get information and to keep up with what's going on in the mortgage industry – as well as in the rest of the world. A few weeks ago, I came across an interesting discussion on quantitative easing.

The debate centered around whether or not quantitative easing is becoming the new norm for economies in the world of today. When we look at the rest of the world, China and the EU for example, it seems inevitable that the Unites States will eventually fall back into QE. Economies keep printing and printing, with no end in sight. For many, quantitative easing has become somewhat of addiction. And we have to wonder, is it ever going to stop?

The problem with having become so dependent on QE in order to make economies function is that there must someday be a day of reckoning. It's hard to know what the long term effects will be, but we probably won't find out until it's too late to do anything about it. The best we can do is to keep our ears to the ground, stay informed, and be ready to make whatever changes we need to make when clock runs out on the ticking time bomb. QE may be here to stay; if we want to be here to stay, we've got to make ourselves ready for its consequences.