[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15196078

The Bank of England has said it will inject a further £75bn into the economy through quantitative easing (QE).

The Bank has already pumped £200bn into the economy by buying assets such as government bonds, in an attempt to boost lending by commercial banks.

But this is the first time it has added to its QE programme since 2009. There have been recent calls for it to step in again to aid the fragile recovery.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15198789

What is quantitative easing?

Usually, central banks try to raise the amount of lending and activity in the economy indirectly, by cutting interest rates.

Lower interest rates encourage people to spend, not save. But when interest rates can go no lower, a central bank's only option is to pump money into the economy directly. That is quantitative easing (QE).

The way the central bank does this is by buying assets - usually financial assets such as government and corporate bonds - using money it has simply created out of thin air.

The institutions selling those assets (either commercial banks or other financial businesses such as insurance companies) will then have "new" money in their accounts, which then boosts the money supply.

Is this printing money?

These days the Bank doesn't have to literally print money - it is all done electronically.

However, economists would still argue that QE is the same principle as printing money as it is a deliberate expansion of the central bank's balance sheet and the monetary base.

Why are the UK's actions different from 1920s Germany and Zimbabwe?

Printing money can be defined as the central bank financing of government debts. This is what happened in both 1920s Germany and Zimbabwe and what the British government will insist it is not doing, although the short-term effect is similar.

I wish we could all do that ..... but then it would be disastrous, wouldn't it ?

So it's just the banks that can use our money to create their own money as well as taking billion-pound handouts from the government so they can pay the "bankers bonus" .....