How to Think About the Fed Now
April 20, 2020 – Jeff Deist …… The Fed is, in effect, a lawless economic government unto itself. It is the lender of first resort, a kind of reverse pawnshop that pays top dollar for rapidly declining assets.
Banks, Debt, Money
Creating More Money Won’t Revive the Economy
April 12, 2020 – Frank Shostak …… What the economy needs now is more real savings and more real production. Creating more money will not help with either of these things.
When It Comes to Raw Power, Few Have More of It Than Central Bankers
March 2, 2020 – Per Bylund …… Anticapitalists often complain that people with more money exercise power over people with less money. Yet these same people seem oddly untroubled by the fact that central bankers can manipulate the money supply at any time to enrich themselves at everyone else’s expense.
The World Looks to Abandon the Dollar as US Sanctions Tighten Their Grip
January 27, 2020 – Ryan McMaken …… The US’s enthusiasm for sanctions means Europe is learning the price of doing business with the United States and with the dollar. They’re now developing new ways to work around the US-dominated financial system.
Huge Debt Got Us Hooked on Petrodollars — and on Saudi Arabia
January 15, 2020 – Ryan McMaken …… Petrodollars and petrodollar recycling are at the heart of what keeps the US debt and money-printing mechanism going. The geopolitical stakes are very high.
How the US Wages War to Prop up the Dollar
January 12, 2020 – Ryan McMaken …… After decades of Cold War spending, the US had to find a way to keep its massive war budgets and domestic spending going without ruining the dollar. Controlling the flow of dollars spent on oil turned out to be a fix.
Economic Growth Does Not Cause Price Inflation
October 10, 2019 – Frank Shostak …… It is not true that a growing economy will lead to price inflation. A growing economy is an increasingly productive economy and leads to dollars chasing a larger number of goods and services — causing deflation.
How Central Banks Promote Money-Creation by Private Banks
September 24, 2019 – Frank Shostak …… Not only does fractional-reserve banking give rise to monetary inflation, it is also responsible for monetary deflation. Money created out of “thin air” can disappear as rapidly as it was created.
Bank of Montreal CEO Shamelessly Blames the Market for the Bank’s Actions
September 2, 2019 – Lee Friday …… When he blames the free market for an unstable housing market, BMO CEO Darryl White is simply attempting to deflect attention away from the activities of the banks.
Why Powell Fears a Gold Standard
July 25, 2019 – Mike Gleason …… The fact that politicians, central bankers, and “too big to fail” bankers all oppose a gold standard is a tacit admission that hard money would serve as an effective constraint on their activities.