Showing posts with label Ben Bernanke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ben Bernanke. Show all posts

05 April 2013

All This Quantitative Easing . . . And The Lowest Money Velocity In 50 Years?

One picture speaks 10,000 words . . .


but I'll add a few anyway:



  1. The Fed has created $2.2 in new money since the 2008 crisis
  2. About half of this money is currently parked in the Federal Reserve by banks and is collecting interest
  3. Much of the other half of this money is sitting on banks' books to shore up new reserve requirements.
  4. Hence, the remainder of the money outstanding is changing hands more slowly than at any time in the past 50 years, meaning banks are not lending as readily as they have in past good times/bad times. Nor are consumers borrowing and spending as they once did
  5. As consumers pay off debt, money is "retired" and goes to money heaven
  6. When money is retired and evaporates to money heaven, it cannot be used as a basis for more fractional reserve lending. Hence, new money must be created with the hope banks will finally get up off that money and lend it to people who will start consuming again and increasing the exchange of said money (i.e., a pick up in "velocity" of money exchanges). We are a nation now addicted to consumption to boost GDP. Savers are anti-American.
  7. Hence the Fed will continue to create new money to try and get the banks to lend and the consumer to borrow and spend. Bernanke's heir apparent, Janet Yellen of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, is already signalling she will focus on GDP growth as much as lower unemployment. To reignite growth, money must start circulating at a faster velocity.
  8. Hence, keep your eyes on this chart for any uptick in the near future
  9. Meanwhile, bet on QE to continue well into 2014 as M2 shows no basing as of yet on this chart

14 October 2011

Jim Rogers Tells Larry Kudlow, "I'm much more a Capitalist than you, Larry. Let the damn banks fail!

Here's inimitable Jim Rogers being his usual testy self. At one point he looses his temper and says, "I'm much more a Capitalist than you are, Larry. Let the damn banks fail! Why are we saving the bondholders?"

Rogers also predicts Greece is not salvageable, Greece will go bust, and the Fed and ECB will waste more time and money with QE trying to backstop Greece.

25 June 2011

Dylan Ratigan: "Why Are Our Politicians So Desperate To Perpetually Protect The Banks . . . ?" Interview With David Stockman

David Stockman, former Budget Director for Ronald Reagan, says he believes Ben Bernanke is finished, done. He says we need to address the disastrous problems in the banking system, not print more money which has only enriched Wall Street and encouraged massive speculation in commodities, derivatives, etc.

Stockman says it was an Urban Legend that Wall Street's problems in 2008 could have resulted in a Great Depression should the bailout have never happened. He also says the thing to have done would have been to allow the banks to sort out their own problems and restructure after certain of them failed.

Possibly the most contentious example which Stockman describes was what should have happened to GE. Stockman says the blame for GE almost going under rests on the shoulders of CEO Jeff Immelt. Instead of a bailout by the government for GE Capital, Stockman says GE should have been allowed to force their shareholders to take a massive hit, that GE should have gone back to the markets with secondary offerings for their errant behaviour in investing in massive derivative schemes to boost profits.

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