Squaring the circle

From The world economy may well be stuck in neutral for years:

It is now nearly seven years since the start of the financial crisis, yet despite growing evidence in America and Britain of a return to relative normality, something remains profoundly broken at the heart of the world economy. One manifestation of this – much discussed among the officials, finance ministers and central bankers gathered in Washington this week for the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund – is the persistence of unnaturally low interest rates...

Very low interest rates are, in essence, the natural corollary of a stagnating economy.

Money has rarely been as abundant and cheap, but there is nowhere productive for it to go.

Unfortunately, no meaningful way of squaring the circle is offered.

"Money has rarely been as abundant and cheap, but there is nowhere productive for it to go."

That's not quite right. There is nowhere profitable for the money to go in the productive sector. That's what they mean, I think. But it's not what they said. And being unclear on that small point is the reason there seems no way to square the circle.

There's too much money in finance. Not enough money is spent out of finance. Basically, not enough money is pissed away. Money that you piss away is how other people make a profit. If you refuse to do anything with your money other than count it, nobody can profit at your expense.

If the people with all the money all hang on to it, nobody can make a profit. As long as nobody can make a profit, there is nowhere profitable for money to go. And when there's nowhere profitable for money to go, people say things like "there is nowhere productive for it to go."