Smallest of G7?
"The UK "Fiscal stimulus" was (at c1.5% of GDP) the *smallest* of the the G7 economies."
1.5% of GDP would be £25Billion or so, are you discounting his bailouts as fiscal stimulus and the BOE money printing, currently at £200 billion or so.
I quite like BBC's introduction to QE semantics here and pointing to the legal issues with BOE actions:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7924506.stm
"Why are the UK's actions different from 1920s Germany and Zimbabwe?"
"Printing money can be defined as the central bank financing of government debts. This is what happened in both 1920s Germany and Zimbabwe and what the British government will insist it is not doing, although the short-term effect is similar."
"According to the Maastricht Treaty, EU member states are not allowed to finance their public deficits by printing money. That is one reason why the Bank of England will buy government bonds from financial institutions, not directly from the government."
"The Bank believes this form of QE is different because it is "printing money" as part of monetary policy - to prevent deflation. It is not printing money to help the government finance its deficit. "
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It forces up the price of government bonds by creating a false market in those bonds. It makes bugger all difference if you interject a middleman broker. It does not make it any more legal.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
