Switzerland's move to break the franc away from its set value against the euro is proof that when the constant "meddling" by central banks ends "something noisy and sudden happens," Jim Grant, founder of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, told CNBC on Thursday.
"It is a day to take measure of our infatuation with central banking," Grant said in an interview with "Closing Bell."
Grant first made the call in September, writing that the Swiss would be forced to permit the franc to appreciate "and thus to enrich the holders of low-priced, three-year call options on the Swiss/euro exchange rate."
"What today underscores is that they, the monetary mandarins, the powers that be, can attempt to suppress volatility. They can attempt to raise up certain asset values but they can't do these things forever," he said Thursday.
Grant argued that the artificial suppression of interest rates and exchange rates brings about contradictions and distortions within the affected economies.
"It will ultimately force the hands of the authorities to step back and allow nature to take its course."
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One of those distortions in Switzerland is the real estate market, he said, where there has been a big updraft in speculative values.
Now, with the Swiss National Bank's latest move, interest rates will be lower and "the property bubble will perhaps get bigger."
Here in the United States, there may also be trouble to come thanks to the Federal Reserve's attempt to raise up asset values to stimulate spending and boost the economy, Grant said.
"What if the earning power of the assets that the Fed has lifted fail to keep up with the prices posted on the New York Stock Exchange? That's also a form of trouble we may look forward to."
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So how should investors play the central banks' race to the bottom? Grant suggested looking at BMW as a case in point.
The stock is yielding 3 percent and has a reasonable equity value, he said. The company also just issued 10-year notes at 1 percent.
"You could be a noteholder at 1 percent or a holder in equity with a chance of appreciation, to be sure a chance of depreciation if indeed this is the end of the world and the beginning of a great big deflationary collapse," he said.
Grant thinks investors can still win by stock picking this year, and advises investors do their homework.
"Read the footnotes, we say in Grant's. It helps," he said.