WHEN commercial banks get into trouble, their last resort when all else has failed is to turn to their central bank. But another group of banks is in trouble now - the central banks themselves.

Current central bank policy is rapidly resembling a dead end. It is not working, it is not stable, and it is not sustainable. Their balance sheets are bloated, their position in financial markets uncomfortable. Negative interest rate policies are causing mounting damage to banks, pension funds, insurance companies, and the workings of capitalism itself. Not a single person in all of finance believes that a situation in which large swathes of government bonds have negative yields is either sensible or healthy.

There is a significant risk that central banking is following "the route of the three Ds". First, they tried through forward guidance to Direct markets. Then, through QE (quantitative easing) and other market interventions, they aimed to Distort markets. And now many fear that, through their dominant position in many asset classes, there is a growing danger they may Destroy markets.