Update on ECB’s QE: Euro 14.3 billion worth of Bonds Monetized Last Week

In saving the banking system, the ECB has “printed” and spent billions again.

From yahoo.com (bold emphasis mine)

The European Central Bank spent euro14.3 billion ($20.6 billion) last week buying government bonds to protect large economies like Spain and Italy from the debt crisis, but market concerns persisted about how long the emergency purchases would contain market turmoil.

The amount of bond purchases disclosed on Monday was short of the previous week's figure of euro22 billion but close to market expectations.

ECB buying of Italian and Spanish bonds on financial markets has driven down borrowing rates that were threatening those two countries with financial ruin. European officials have agreed to give the eurozone's rescue fund the power to take over the purchases -- but national parliaments will not give their approval for that until this fall.

That has left the central bank with the main burden of fighting off market turmoil caused by fears that several of the 17 countries that use the euro have taken on more debt than they can repay.

Market worries are compounded by concerns that any government default could damage Europe's already-shaky banks, which hold large amounts of government bonds.

Last week's purchases ran the bank's total spent in supporting shaky eurozone government bonds to euro110.5 billion since the program was launched in May, 2010. So far the purchases average euro3.6 billion a day; analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland estimated that a rate of euro2.5 billion a day would leave the ECB spending some euro600 billion a year.

The massive bailout of the global banking system has been so obvious such that the mainstream newswires has made these events a commonplace narrative.

Yet where are the populist revolts?