Weidmann finds Faustian fault
■ The head of Germany’s central bank Jens Weidmann yesterday spoke out against the ECB bond-buying plan, comparing printing money to the work of the devil. The Bundesbank head cited a passage from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s classic German play “Faust”. He recounted how the devil Mephisto, “disguised as a fool”, convinces an emperor to issue large amounts of paper money, which – for a time – solves the kingdom’s financial problems. But it ends with rampant inflation. “Yes, this temptation certainly exists, and many in monetary history have succumbed to it,” Weidmann said.