5 ms·
No amount of govt money will ever cause inflation again. The tools for govt intervention (the Fed rate, quantitative easing through the purchase of Tbills,etc)
by bawana 7y ago
No amount of govt money will ever cause inflation again. The tools for govt intervention (the Fed rate, quantitative easing through the purchase of Tbills,etc) may have been effective in the time when the world was simpler (Remember 'It's a Wonderful Life' with James Stewart?). But loans from banks do not drive the economy any more. In fact many businesses look to VCs, and angels. Loans are for chumps. So what DO these tools do? Where does the money go? It goes to places that will generate the highest ROI - other financial opportunities and investments removed from the real world. In fact, I would interpret that skyrocketing stock market as evidence of too much money chasing too few equities. There may be 'inflation' of equities prices, bond prices, REIT prices, etc. But unless the money gets into the hands of the people who need a house or need a job or need food, it won't help the economy. Adam Smith's laws and the 'invisible hand' of the market assumes a continuous distribution of currency transacted by rational agents with equal access. Instead the world is quantized and now a large fraction of the population are below the threshold where these interventions are meaningful.
- raincom 7y agoExactly this. Just Fed/Treasury crediting $1B to every billionaire in the states won't help the economy; it just helps this rich to chase after financial assets (stocks), real estate (mega mansions), arts/paintings (picasso, van gough, etc), mega yachts, names on buildings, etc.
- bravo22 7y agoYes. The system is inherently unproductive. Pumping more money into it like giving a sedentary person more calories and expect their physique to end up like an athlete's. But you can also pump that money into the hands of people and have the same problem. If you give everyone 10K you haven't change affordability. If you give everyone 10K you haven't changed relative food prices. There are more fundamental problems to be solved.