EU about to start printing money?

Amidst the EU economic crisis in July 2012 the ECB head, Mario Draghi, stated the ECB would “do whatever it takes” to save the Euro.  They’ve tried austerity, they’ve tried near zero interest rates, and they’ve tried free loans but have not mirrored the US (QE), Japan (Abenomics), China and UK in outright money printing due to resistance from Germany.  As nothing has worked and they’ve overcome Germany, they have been flagging the possibility soon of “OMT” or Outright Monetary Transaction, their name for money printing.  Because of the inherent dangers of hyperinflation and other unintended consequences aggressive money printing is considered “unconventional” policy.  Consider this quote then from Draghi late last week…

“The objective here would not be to defend the current stance, but rather to increase meaningfully the degree of monetary accommodation, the Governing Council is committed -- unanimously -- to using both unconventional and conventional instruments to deal effectively with the risks of a too-prolonged period of low inflation.”

So Europe looks set to start printing as well.  We reported last week on diminishing gold and silver supplies which is in stark contrast to pushing a button on electronic money printing presses…