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> The banking cartel gave itself more than half of the annual output of the world's largest economy. The word "gave" is not really correct. The 7.77 trillion d
by kahirsch 15y ago
> The banking cartel gave itself more than half of the annual output of the world's largest economy.
The word "gave" is not really correct. The 7.77 trillion dollar figure is the total amount of loan guarantees and credit authorizations. The highest amount ever loaned out at one time was just over 1 trillion dollars, and that's all been paid back.
- buff-a 15y agoThis is Hacker News so use your imagination. Imagine if you were a start-up, and you could tell any investor, "I have a $1 billion guarantee from the Federal Reserve". Are you saying that that would have NO VALUE, even if you never used it? Now imagine every other startup you compete against has this guarantee and you don't. What are your chances now? The dollar in your pocket has no value when someone else can be loaned $1T at any moment.