Dangerous dryness

The ECB giveth and the ECB taketh away. That was the European Central Bank’s message this week. It wants to give banks enough money to keep going, but take away any monetary policy support for inflation. The balance is laudable, but the stance is probably not tenable. The most recent gift was the provision of an exceptional three-month money tender. But the announcement of the extra support was accompanied by a reiteration of the central bank’s policy statement from August 2, which central bank...