If all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. For the world’s central banks, the hammer is their ability to create money to buy up assets, and it is pounding on every difficulty out there.

The US Federal Reserve upgraded to a sledgehammer at its last meeting, turning its third round of quantitative easing from QE3 to QE∞ (or infinity) in an attempt to solve the problem of unemployment. It plans to buy mortgage bonds in the market until the economy starts creating jobs – and says it will not tighten monetary policy immediately even when it spots a recovery.

Switzerland long ago moved to an “unlimited” monetary policy, printing Swiss francs as though they grew on trees in order to prevent the currency rising against the euro. The European Central Bank has also promised unlimited intervention to protect the bond yields of struggling eurozone countries against fears that they could leave the euro.