Perhaps the same purpose, whatever it may be, as that which justifies:
- unemployment calculations report half the unemployment they did in the 80's
- anything that goes up in price is removed from the CPI
- the US hasn't passed a budget in 3 years, but the debt ceiling is raised every year
- social security and medicare are not a problem today, so they are not a problem
- 60% of US treasuries are bought by the US Fed
- it's official, Fed now must create at least 2% inflation instead of quelling it
- the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were excluded from the US budget
- economists state with a straight face that sovereign bonds are safe because the money can be printed
- the Fed and ECB balances sheets have gone parabolic
- the definition of insolvent and default are moving targets
- flash crash, MF Global, ~$1,000,000,000,000,000 of derivatives
- etc, etc, etc
Individually, these developments are easily denied, but they are real. I suppose your definition of what is happening is as good as mine. I would call it the gradual breakdown of the rule of law. |
