Today, the Financial Times in the U.K. reported that the Bank of England will "directly finance extra government spending" as a temporary measure in response to the demands placed upon the economy due to the ongoing pandemic.

(On seeing the article I couldn't help but recall the economist Milton Friedman's assertion that "there is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program.")

The decision for the Bank of England to simply hand the British Government cash without the need to issue bonds has changed the established procedures for national debt governance.

One of the first to seize upon the significance of the Bank of England move was ex-bond trader and economist Maneco64, who released a social media post clarifying that this was a momentous turn of events and that it had ushered in a hyperinflationary environment for the British fiat currency.

In suggesting the city of London was likely to become Harare-on-Thames, Maneco64 implied that British pound is now destined to share a similar fate as the Zimbabwe currency that at one time suffered an eye-watering 500,000,000,000% hyperinflation rate. 

It doesn't take much imagination to picture how even such a fraction of that horrific rate would destroy the savings, investments and purchasing power of the British citizen. 

"But hyperinflation is something that just effects developing countries, right?" is the response when most people are confronted with the spectre of excessive money creation.

Yet, while "Harare-on-Thames" may seem merely comic hyperbole at first glance, Maneco64 has taken to youtube to explain why the statement is nothing to be laughed.

As Maneco64 clearly points out the amount of pounds to be created out of thin air is "undisclosed."

While that may provide some hope that the new Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, will show some restraint, others - including myself - would doubt that is possible in the U.K. anymore than it is in the U.S.A.