Why central banks are just pouring gasoline on the fire

Money printing by developed world central banks is the equivalent of throwing gasoline on a fire and could damage the global economy in the long term, said Legg Mason's David Nadel.

The manager of the £7.2m Legg Mason Royce Global Smaller Companies fund said, despite an optimistic outlook for Europe overall, he is concerned by the widespread increase in quantitative easing. Nadel criticised the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank's recent moves to provide cheap financing. "I do not see why these actions should have a sustained positive effect. Why is it good to lend more to those drowning in debt? Isn't it a bit like giving heroin to an addict?" he said. "To me, a...