Max Keiser has said that negative interest rates are the same thing as defaulting on debt. And when you think about it, he's right.

It used to be that nations under unsustainable debt burdens would just default all at once in a big gigantic economic bust. But that's too messy.

Those in power have devised a way to keep things somewhat neater by initiating a slow-motion controlled implosion of the economy through financial engineering like negative interest rates. At the same time, central banks are outright buying stocks to keep markets propped up and keep the illusion of an "economic recovery" going for as long as possible.

This is insanity. Conventional financial wisdom no longer applies in this brave new world. Negative interest rates have never even been written about or spoken of in all of monetary history.

God help us all.