Following Ben's lead

So Japan, seeing the boom in US stocks and the decline in the dollar with Ben Bernanke's QE3, decides to do the same.  After all, Japan has been struggling with a near deflationary economy for two decades, and what the Fed just did was what economists have been saying Japan should do for a long time.

Now, with the dollar and yen falling relative to the euro, it's going to put more pressure on the European Central Bank.  If ECB doesn't loosen as well, the strength of the euro will hamper their exports, and putting headwinds on their already stagnating economy.

And so I expect it may go.  Now that the U.S. is pushing harder on monetary policy, I think others will too, all the more if it seems to be working.

Inflation here we come.  I don't mean hyperinflation; I mean an extra point or two or three more inflation not this year or perhaps even next year, but in two or three years.  And this may be enough to get consumption and investment going again in the nearer term.

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