As he reminds us in a note on Wednesday:

There are, as he notes, some important distinctions to be made this time around, not least globalisation’s impact on the role of intangible rents.

Consequently, we may be living in an economy in which profits no longer remotely resemble a “natural” aspect of the economy. They are, one might say, somewhat synthetic.

- The bizarre border between the US and Canada.

- The great Canadian sperm shortage.

- Rates and bubblenomics.

Among the first to argue the point, of course, was Willem Buiter back in 2009, before he took up the position of chief economist at Citi. But there’s also been a strong patter of support from advocates such as Mobino’s Jean-Francois Groff and Slate’s Matt Yglesias (to name a few).

There is, as we’ve long been noting, good reason to suspect the economy cannot handle any more quantitative easing in its traditional form.

What’s more, we now know that even the whiff of tapering — which is anything but an unwind, as we’ve noted here – can cause undue chaos in risk assets. In which case, perhaps tapering isn’t as much of an option as many believe it to be.

After all, QE reflects the sovereign put. It’s the government subsidy which takes volatility away. If you stop dishing it out, there’s every chance bad things may happen.

And the following chart, which comes to us by way of Aurelija Augulyte, reflects this relationship perfectly:

If the fight is between capital and labour, and capital is winning, it seems subsidies in the form of some basic type of income may be called upon.

But evidence in favour of such a suggestion is certainly mounting by the day.

We present some examples from the commentary space…

As we noted, it represents the market’s reconnection with disinflationary reality. The smoke and mirrors are fading. What is worrying, however, is that a move of this size has been prompted by simple talk of tapering. If that’s what tapering does, what will the first hint of a proper QE exit inspire?

As a result, it’s unlikely that an outright QE exit is viable at this stage. The deflationary consequences (which include the chances of a major market-sell off) would arguably be too large. Given that let’s analyse what the move in real yields really signifies.