Ponzi

So many times the term is misapplied. None more egregious than when describing the global financial system. It is a gross simplification that intellectual Hedgehogs (in Isiah Berlin's nomenclature) use when they cannot wrap their collective brains around the simple fact that in a floating or soft currency world, an incremental payment fraud system is completely inapplicable.

But whatever, the types of quotes below are seldom viewed with a self-critical lens...or chastened with some humility.

Oliver Cromwell summed it up centuries ago: "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken"

Lastly, the gradual creep higher in US interest rates after QE3 and QE4 resulted in several near-failed auctions looks as though it could signal the beginning of a fundamental shift that may potentially, in 2013, bring about the final unraveling of the global government bond ponzi scheme.