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The federal reserve is not spending money, they are buying bonds, when they buy a bond it is like adding a number in a spreadsheet, when the money is paid back

The federal reserve is not spending money, they are buying bonds, when they buy a bond it is like adding a number in a spreadsheet, when the money is paid back (or even not) they just add the number back. The federal reserve is not allowed under law to go pay people UBI or something. What exactly do you expect them to do instead? And why should it be instead? You get the federal reserve has no inherent limit to the amount of bonds they could buy, so even if there was some other "socially productive forms of spending" they could undertake this is in no way mutually exclusive to buying bonds from Walmart. It is astounding how little people understand of what is going on here.

deleuze 6y ago
The fed does plenty of things that are outside of the scope of it's charter. Further, we can just change the law, this isn't some immutable truth of central banks. Even within the scope of the fed's mandate we could invent ways to invest in infrastructure instead of Walmart. > It is astounding how little people understand of what is going on here. No, you're just a smug asshole.
- jaekash 6y ago
  > The fed does plenty of things that are outside of the scope of it's charter. Name one. > Further, we can just change the law, this isn't some immutable truth of central banks. Well then go change the the law instead of saying that with the law being what it currently is the fed should instead engage in other "socially productive forms of spending". > Even within the scope of the fed's mandate we could invent ways to invest in infrastructure instead of Walmart. Invent them then and tell us. The fed can buy bonds, they buy bonds, they can set the interest rate, they set the interest rate. If there is a company building infrastructure that issues bonds then presumably the Fed can buy them, and I'm sure they will because the Fed is trying to flood the system with money, and for the most part indiscriminately with maybe just an eye on credit ratings.

deleuze 6y ago

The fed does plenty of things that are outside of the scope of it's charter. Further, we can just change the law, this isn't some immutable truth of central banks. Even within the scope of the fed's mandate we could invent ways to invest in infrastructure instead of Walmart. > It is astounding how little people understand of what is going on here. No, you're just a smug asshole.

jaekash 6y ago
> The fed does plenty of things that are outside of the scope of it's charter. Name one. > Further, we can just change the law, this isn't some immutable truth of central banks. Well then go change the the law instead of saying that with the law being what it currently is the fed should instead engage in other "socially productive forms of spending". > Even within the scope of the fed's mandate we could invent ways to invest in infrastructure instead of Walmart. Invent them then and tell us. The fed can buy bonds, they buy bonds, they can set the interest rate, they set the interest rate. If there is a company building infrastructure that issues bonds then presumably the Fed can buy them, and I'm sure they will because the Fed is trying to flood the system with money, and for the most part indiscriminately with maybe just an eye on credit ratings.