Tapering

The world of finance is well known for using lots of euphemisms, a concept so useful that it would have to be invented if it did not exist already. Euphemisms make lying and cheating so much easier whilst retaining a clean conscience. That is the very heart of finance: usurping other people´s money with a clean conscience and a trustworthy smile.

When a new situation appears on the scene you need a new euphemism for that. This is the case right now. After a long period in which the states in the disguise of the central banks (especially the Federal Reserve) have been flooding the so called markets with cheap money¹ they are planning to stop this practice because they (whoever they are → conspiranoico) are afraid it will become unsustainable. They will give less money away and they will charge interest for it. As the financial markets get used to the fact that the free lunch is over, they² have coined a term for the trouble ahead: tapering. And what a nice word that is!

If you wonder why the opposite of quantitative easing is not quantitative difficulting you have not grasped the idea of euphemism. Try again.

Tapering is, among many other meanings that my trusted Merriam Webster´s lists, a gradual diminution of thickness, diameter, or width in an elongated object or simply a gradual decrease. Now look what they have done! Try translating this into German and you would be hard pressed not to come up with verjüngen. Now that would convey the impression of rejuvenation, would it not? Those are the best euphemisms, that not only hide their meaning but even nudge you in the wrong direction. Let me make this clear: no, tapering sure does not have a rejuvenating effect. It will not rejuvenate you nor your finances, it will only make other people richer.

And what about Spanish? Tapering is ahusar in Spanish, but that is a word related to textiles, perhaps to machines if you press me, but certainly not related at all to finance. Tapering is a great smoke-screen. And when they finally apply it, you will suffer the consequences and they will be as disastrous for you as the consequences of quantitative easing were. You have been warned.

¹ cheap meaning: they gave it away for free, no interest to be paid, but only if you were a bank – that gift deserved its own euphemism, they called it quantitative easing
² remember: they, that is the banks. Insurance companies have had much less fun during this quantitative easing, as they had promised their customers to pay them interest on the money they lent them and were getting no interest for the money they had to invest in the name of those customers

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