What is one to make of the recent major strategic moves by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Federal Reserve (followed at a discreet distance by the Bank of Japan)? Both have their backs to the wall. Both have been compelled to take initiatives, not out of real conviction but rather out of desperation. In the short to medium term, these tactics may work – we all have to hope so. But they do nothing to increase confidence in the longer-term future of central banks and their models of