Will there be a Santa Claus at the Treasury?

The other day, Deputy President William Ruto went before the nation with a plea that was every bit of strange as it was bizarre. He asked Kenyans to belt up, a double whammy in Christmas presents was around the corner. Even though the country was counting it's last cents, and it's economy was completely off the rails, Ruto promised Kenyans that they were at the cusp of economic nirvana, just barely in time for Christmas.

This is a first in  modern economics. To attempt to do what was last done when Jesus fed a hungry throng with just two fish and one loaf  must earn you nothing short of the Nobel prize. Mr Ruto must have a concoction that even the vaunted US Fed don’t know about. The Yankees have been chafing for the last 8 years since the financial crisis to rouse the economy awake, even unleashing  a monster called Quantitative Easing to whack the economy into life. The impeccable circle of economists at the wheels of the Fed are too coy to promise Americans anything concrete, beyond vague  monosyllables. They must envy the bravado Ruto shows of being able to turn the economy on and off almost at will  in the midst of an economic wasteland and at such short notice.