I was struck by JP's view that the money printing will not lead to lending as consumers and real businesses are deleveraging and will continue to do so for years, i.e. they are tapped out and scared for their financial survival.

However, we know that money isn't just going to sit in banks vaults earning no interest so the prospect of an inflation in some asset class seems to make sense to me and that asset class being hard assets also makes sense because those in the know, who get the money first, i.e. the bankers, understand where all this currency debasement is heading.

The tide, among the savvy investors and the big sovereign players, seems to me to be turning towards hard assets again for inflation protection and wealth protection. Punters will get sucked into a general market rally which we know won't last. The clever money is building long term positions in hard assets.

So the monetary elites move to protect their assets under the cover of a deflation scare, the inflation in commodities kicks in, they clean up again and the public pays through higher taxes and general inflation. It's the same way it has always been. At least we've protected ourselves to some extent.