Global Financial Crisis (8 Viewers)

Bjerknes

"Top Economist"
Mar 16, 2004
116,995
The monetary base is basically the amount of paper money/coins in circulation and bank reserves in the economy.

So this is money in the system or money held by banks.
 

Bjerknes

"Top Economist"
Mar 16, 2004
116,995
It's the cause of the inflation seen in commodity prices. The greater the supply of money in the system, the greater the downward pressure on the value of the money in terms of purchasing power.
 

Bjerknes

"Top Economist"
Mar 16, 2004
116,995
They were. You can tell just by looking at how much money they're throwing at the system to try to prop up the economy. But this approach has never worked in the long run.
 
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Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky

Tzu
Administrator
May 27, 2007
89,245
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #710
    Throwing money 'into' the system is a sure shot recipe for hyperinflation.Basic economics really.
    Not really.

    "Throwing" the money into the system from reserves won't cause hyperinflation. Hyperinflation will be seen when country wants to solve their insolvency by printing money, which is something else.

    When they throw more money into the system you will see higher interest rates so they don't mess with the prices, so it would be restrictive politics. When you can smell recession it has to be done that way.

    Federal reserves aren't something bad. All the money banks get they have to send 10% to a central bank which later coordinates with it.
     

    Bjerknes

    "Top Economist"
    Mar 16, 2004
    116,995
    Yes, I meant the printing presses. That's what quantitative easing is all about. Whether it be the actual printing of money, or adding a few digits to electronically created "money", downward pressure on the currency arises and all those dollars have to flow somewhere. In this case, banks are putting those excess reserves into buying physical assets like commodities.

    Now, the debate surrounding hyperinflation is that to have it, you need an environment where wages are also rising. We currently have depressed wages and an over supply of workers, so deflationistas are saying it's impossible to have hyperinflation in our current economy. But I think this logic is flawed. We have already seen the US dollar index beaten down past 74 support, commodity prices are soaring even without a major increase in demand, and it's all because of the FED's Zero Interest Rate policy and the QE1/QE2 money printing shenanigans debasing our currency in terms of gold and other assets. If the primary goal of these QE's is to fund the federal budget deficit (which politicians will never seriously address) and inflate away our debts, the FED might issue a QE3, QE4, or QE Infinity, and with each of those they will debase the currency even more. So there will come a point where this devaluation won't be so orderly anymore and a mass exodus from the currency will occur. It's happened before, it can happen again. Who cares what your wages are when the dollar loses 90% of it's value and the only solution the government has is to print more money.

    I guess the one saving grace for the dollar is that it's the world reserve currency, so you have an artificial demand for dollars to purchase oil and other commodities. But it's becoming less and less desirable for foreigners to do business in dollars, so the world reserve status won't be there forever.
     

    Bjerknes

    "Top Economist"
    Mar 16, 2004
    116,995
    And it's so humorous how all this inflation is hidden to central bankers. They don't see it. Ben Bernanke doesn't see any inflation. I guess he hasn't looked at a chart of oil, soybeans, sugar, coffee, wheat, gold, silver... I mean gold has very limited industrial use whatsoever, yet it's still going higher. So that blows the whole "commodity prices are rising because of economic recovery" bullshit. But Bernanke only looks at his beautiful CPI number, which conveniently discards stuff that people don't really need, you know, like those useless things of food and clothes and energy, so no wonder why he doesn't see it.

    He's not an idiot, though. He knows it's there. It's just that the middle class isn't who he works for.
     

    Bjerknes

    "Top Economist"
    Mar 16, 2004
    116,995
    Good article from the Telegraph:

    Once the announcement was made, Geithner merely shrugged it off. His official response was that there is "no chance" of S&P's negative outlook turning into an actual downgrade. The rational reaction to such a statement is that "there was no chance of the Titanic sinking either". The more realistic response, perhaps, is to realise that there really is "no chance" of a major US ratings agency gainsaying the White House any time soon.

    ...

    There's been a lot of talk that S&P's bold move last week was a harbinger of renewed fiscal discipline, not just in the US, but across the Western world. The ratings agency, we're told, "is doing its job" and "holding politicians to account". I would like to think that's true, but I just don't. The gold market doesn't either. The yellow metal, the ultimate hedge against inflation and dollar debasement, hit yet another all-time high last week.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...alking-towards-disaster-does-no-one-care.html
     

    Bjerknes

    "Top Economist"
    Mar 16, 2004
    116,995
    Quantitative Easing is monetary policy used by central banks to increase the money supply by buying up its own government's debt. In the case of the FED, they have announced two different QE programs where they are buying up government bonds to "keep interest rates low and provide support to the housing market." But that hasn't really worked since the 10-year note, which is tied to mortgages, has gone up when these programs have been conducted. The FED and Bernanke knows it hasn't worked, so they are lying. The real goal of QE1 and QE2 is to finance the federal budget deficit and keep their Wall Street friends happy. How does it work? The FED buys these treasury securities from primary dealers (large investment banks), so they become the bondholders who receive interest payments from the US Treasury.

    The other outcome of QE policies is the debasement of the currency, which you can see in the rising commodity prices we have currently.

    It's all Ponzi finance.
     

    Bjerknes

    "Top Economist"
    Mar 16, 2004
    116,995
    Bad News.

    China to cut 2/3 of its $3 trillion USD holdings

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/china-proposes-cut-two-thirds-its-3-trillion-usd-holdings

    So, Japan is out of buying US government debt since the earthquake, and now it looks like China has had enough as well.

    Who is going to buy our debt and finance our government spending? I guess our own central bank.

    Whether they print or don't print, there is no way out of the coming economic pain.
     

    Bjerknes

    "Top Economist"
    Mar 16, 2004
    116,995
    Silver is exploding to new highs again as the dollar gets trashed. Talk of an extension of QE2.

    This chart of silver is a three-wave parabolic pattern with the third having the steepest slope. 99% of the time these parabolic rises come crashing down, so I wouldn't be buying silver right here, even though a lot of people are imploring you to.
     

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