Hi, Emil, thanks for your response to my comment. Good arguments, but I want to push back on one because it is so important.

Jim Grant is wrong about negative rates being a novel policy. Sovereigns have imposed negative interest rates on money at least since the first Roman emperor debased his coinage. My favorite negative rate story comes from my wife's grandfather. During WW1 in Hungary he watched the Emperor's troops ride into town, collect everyone's cash, stamp half, and confiscate the rest. And, of course, our own Franklin Roosevelt abolished gold clauses in contracts and made the holding of bullion illegal.

Negative interest rates may be a bad policy. They certainly are not first- or even second-best. But they are a policy tool with a long history and are sure to be used whenever the sovereign so chooses.