In the short term, a central bank can drive up stock prices by lowering the interest rate. In the longer term, it could sap the strength out of an economy.
Pundits are hoping that instead of a crisis, we just get a "global economic slowdown." Given the damage done by central banks, a sustained slowdown would be a best-case scenario.
While the US's central bank strikes a "cautiously optimistic" stance (as usual), central banks in developing countries are driven to easy money by economic uncertainty and a weakening dollar.
We are better off not needing twelve people with shovels to do the same thing as a single bulldozer. Robots are not fundamentally different from a bulldozer.
The Fed is prepared to squeeze out what little is left of the free market forces in the debt market. The Fed wants full control so it can do "whatever it takes" to keep interest rates from rising above its very-low targets.
