Dow continues to mark time around the 17,500 level…up a couple of hundred points…and down a couple of hundred. Disappointing earnings has the market looking for direction from somewhere. Gold was steady; the Aussie dollar is up a tad; meanwhile, oil hit a seven-month high.

Interest rates are the hot topic of late. How low will they go? Will the RBA cut another 0.5%? Or even a full 1% or more? Who knows. Least of all the RBA. Taking rates lower is not going to shake the economy out of its deflationary funk.

Central banks have proven they cannot control the monster they've created. Which is why one of my 'election policies' was to abolish the RBA, letting the market fix the problem instead.

My weekend Daily Reckoning article, 'Would You Vote for My Policies?' evoked plenty of feedback.

The proposed policies are, to say the least, unorthodox in our progressive world. In addition to abolishing the Reserve Bank, I also suggested denying the right to vote for those in receipt of welfare — and those that are on the government payroll — making the boards of banks personally responsible for losses, and turning Canberra into a ghost town.

The kindest slap down on my policies was 'I think that proposal is ridiculous.'Others were less polite.

However, I did manage to garner a few votes. But not quite enough to get me a taxpayer-funded refund of my campaign expenses — oh, and what a joke that little scam is…

In the world we've grown up in, there's no question my policies flirt with the lunatic fringe.

The mainstream would have a field day lampooning my policies…much mirth would be had at my expense. But is it mainstream journalism that's playing the fool? A little more on that later.

By today's standards my policies are considered outlandish. However, in the context of history, they're not new or all that radical.

The US Federal Reserve only came into existence in 1913. Prior to that, the world managed to function without the guiding hand of economic academics.

Granted, the world is more complicated these days — and a good deal of that complication has been a function of central banks doing everything in their power to advance a debt-dependent economic growth machine…ably assisted by the banking sector.

The economic doctors have overmedicated the system to the point where we've lost all immunity to any financial virus. We are economic weaklings completely dependent on central banks to administer the latest, and even more lethal, vaccine to ward off the 'nasties'.

Had the markets been left to their own unpredictable devices to navigate the business cycles, then perhaps our legacy might be a system that is far more robust and better able to handle the highs and lows that come with market cycles.

Global Financial Crisis 2016: 3 Crisis Scenarios, and How They'll Impact on Australia
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