#ThingsStrongerThanTheKenyaShilling
Twitter does have some very strange Trends. These are the things that appear on the right-hand side of the page that show what people are talking about. They more they talk, the more likely it is that something will get listed. More often than not they are about celebrities such as Justin Bieber.
But today’s Worldwide Trends was particularly unusual.
#ThingsStrongerThanTheKenyaShilling was right up there near the top.
As the graph here shows, the shilling has taken a heavy beating since the Lehman Brother collapse. This is one reason for the Twitter outburst. ”Kenyans are getting fed up,” said @oreo_junkie, whose Twitter feed states it is from Nairobi.
Twisted Sister and the Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve’s “Operation Twist” has set the literary- and musical-allusion juices flowing. It is all about the Fed selling or not rolling over short-term debt and buying long-term bonds instead in order to keep borrowing costs low.
But that is frightfully dull for economists, analysts and reporters trying to get attention for their work. So, so far we have heard:
The unsyncopated rhythm of central banks
The European Central Bank is off and running with its tightening cycle — raising by 25 basis points last week and talking in tongues enough to persuade markets that another hike is coming by July. At the same time, the Fed — despite some hawkish comments recently about QE — isn’t seen actually tightening for some time. Next year, actually.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch is now wondering whether there is something wrong with this. ” Surely one of these central banks is heading to a painful policy mistake? ” it says.

