Friday, September 20, 2019

Why don't we simply Print Money to pay off US Debt?







Have you ever wondered why countries can't just print more money to off their debts. or to feed the homeless or fix unemployment, or any other issue for that matter. The short answer can be summed up in just one word... inflation. Inflation is defined as "a persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of the currency. Technically we could potentially resolve our debt problem in that way, but it would lead to much bigger problems. Primarily, it would result in hyperinflation .With trillion new US dollars in international hands and over a trillion of that in China alone--a dramatic increase in national income everywhere except the US. That income spike would cause aggregate demand for goods purchasable in US Dollar to soar. Merchants would naturally respond by increasing the price of their goods, re-stabilizing the real value of the dollar. The consequences of such a series of events would be catastrophic. The purchasing power of the dollar would decrease enormously. This would place strain on American buyers who now have to pay more for goods without the higher income that China has received and thus cause a recession that would dwarf that of 2008. Unemployment would spike, as many firms would find it advantageous to migrate to China and elsewhere where there is new demand for their products. Meanwhile, the People's Bank of China, for one, would be pissed because, even though they now have more dollars than they did before, those dollars aren't worth nearly as much as when they sold that debt to the US. Whereas before $1.3 trillion could have bought China, say, 200 aircraft carriers , after inflation of this magnitude , it might only buy them 20. And we know that China's in this for the aircraft carriers. They would begrudgingly buy those 20 carriers and haul them across the Pacific to vent their frustrations against our now-decrepit Treasury in person. Meanwhile, we'd be firing bows and arrows from canoes like those island people that went to war with the US in that British movie. Doomsday scenarios aside, we would end up with two major problems (among others, for sure): a devastating recession and a diplomatic fallout with China (and other servicers of US debt). Basically, the dollar is only valuable if it's scarce, because we use it to procure scarce resources. When it's no longer scarce, its no longer transitive as a currency and has no value. So, in reality, the reason that other countries would no longer lend us money if we freely printed our own is because the exchange rate between the dollar and any other currency would approach zero, leaving banks and merchants with nothing to gain by transacting in US dollars. There would be no incentive for nations to produce anything of real value, rendering the concept of GDP meaningless. Furthermore, if we could resolve debt by just printing bills, there would be nothing to prevent other countries/central banks from doing so--and you would end up in a world full of meaningless currency. Money is nothing but a record or a sticker of total goods and services produced in an economy. Therefore money can be printed only at the same rate as an economy (GDP) is growing. So if US GDP grows at 3%, US can print 3% extra dollars. However if money supply exceeds GDP growth, there is double entry of goods and services produced so a particular good/service is counted twice but can only be delivered once. Its quite obvious that the 2 potential suitors for the good produced once but counted twice will be engaged in a furious bidding war which will drive the price of the good produced once but counted twice. Ultimately you will have a balanced equation where on one side there will be extra currency printed (above the normal rate of GDP growth) and on other side you will have extra price you have to pay for that good. So if you don't print money if your GDP is growing, you face a depression ,but if you print money in excess of your GDP growth, you face higher inflation which leads to demand shortfall causing job losses. This condition is called stagflation which is worse than depression. In depression jobs are hard to come by but prices remain low. In stagflation, you have few jobs but prices remain high as all the excess printed currency is still in circulation. The US has some leeway as US dollar is global reserve currency . So The US can print dollars slightly in excess of its annual GDP growth but this will reduce US debt by few 10s of billions every year when theoretically the US needs 100s of billions every year to reduce its debt. The best way forward is to refinance the debt and push for higher growth every year and pay back over a period of several decades but such a scenario is susceptible to black swan events like wars, recessions etc. Now, if a country gets into financial trouble, it may have to default on its debt, which basically means you won't get your money back. But the US is generally considered an extremely risk-free investment because the US dollar is the most widely used and most trust-worthy currency in the world. It's even written into the Constitution that the United States cannot default on its debt. I'll leave you with this final thought and what I think is possibly the best way to sum up why governments can't just print off unlimited amounts of money : "If money grew on trees, it would be as valuable as leaves" .







The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Archive

“Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.” Henry Kissinger


once a standing army is established, in any country, the people lose their liberty.”
George Mason

“Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.”
Henry Kissinger

“If you are an ordinary person, then you can prepare yourself for war by moving to the countryside and building a farm, but you must take guns with you, as the hordes of starving will be roaming. Also, even though the elite will have their safe havens and specialist shelters, they must be just as careful during the war as the ordinary civilians, because their shelters can still be compromised.”
Henry Kissinger

"We don't let them have ideas. Why would we let them have guns?" Joseph Stalin

The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.
Joseph Stalin

Governments keep a lot of secrets from their people . . .
Why aren't the people in return allowed to keep secrets
from the government?

PHILIP ZIMMERMAN, DER SPIEGEL

“Some call it Communism, I call it Judaism.”

Rabbi Stephen Weiss

“Anti-Communism is Anti-Semitism.”
Jewish Voice, July - August 1941

Taxing People is Punishing Success
UNKNOWN

There's the rich, the poor, and the tax payers...also known as the middle class. Robert Kiyosaki

The Tax you pay is The Bill for Staying Stupid

Stefan Molyneux


“The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is, perhaps, the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banks can in fact inflate, mint and un-mint the modern ledger-entry currency.” Major L L B Angus

The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits or so dependent on its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of the people mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system will bear its burdens without complaint and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.
The Rothschild Bros

"Debts must be collected, bonds and mortgages must be foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When, through a process of law, the common people lose their homes they will become more docile and more easily governed through the influence of the strong arm of government, applied by a central power of wealth under control of leading financiers.

This truth is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of Capital to govern the world.

By dividing the voters through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance. Thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves what has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished."

USA Banker's Magazine, August 25 1924


Cutting Tax Rates stimulates Economic Growth creates more Profit , more Jobs and therefore The Treasury ends up with more Tax Money
UNKNOWN

Taxation is legalized Theft
UNKNOWN

"The Objective of the Bank is not the control of a conflict , it's the control of the debt that a conflict produces . The real value of a conflict , the true value is in the debt that it creates . You control the debt , you control everything . this is THE VERY ESSENCE OF THE BANKING INDUSTRY , to make us all , whether we be nations or individuals , SLAVES TO DEBT " An UNKNOWN Banker

Patriotism is the last refuge... to which the scoundrel clings .... Steal a little and they throw you in jail ..steal a lot and they make you king ....

Bob Dylan


"Corporations are stealing billions in tax breaks, while the confused, screwed citizenry turn on each other. International corporations have no national allegiance, they care only for profit." Robert Reich


There is NO political answer to a spiritual problem!
Steve Quayle


Po
litical Correctness is a Political Stand Point that does not allow Political Opposition , This is actually The Definition of Dictatorship
Gilad Atzmon

The modern definition of racist is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal
Peter Brimelow


When People lose everything and have nothing left to lose , They Lose It !

GERALD CELENTE

Your Greatest Teacher is Your Last Mistake
DAVID ICKE

The one who Controls the Education System , Controls Perception
UNKNOWN

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."

Albert Einstein

In The Left Nothing is Right & in The Right nothing is Left
UNKNOWN


No man escapes when freedom fails; The best men rot in filthy jails. And those that cried 'Appease! Appease!' Are hanged by those they tried to please
UNKNOWN

Freedom is not Free
UNKNOWN

Don't Steal The Government Hates The Competition

Ron Paul

"Buy The Rumor , Sell The Fact " Peter Schiff


You can love your Country and not your Government

Jesse Ventura


" The Government Works for ME , I do not answer to them They Answer to ME "
Glenn Beck

"Tyranny will Come to Your Door in a Uniform "
Alex Jones

"The Government is not The Solution to our Problems , The Government is The Problem "

Ronald Reagan


"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." Plato


The world is a tragedy to those that feel, and a comedy to those that think...Beppe Grillo

"The people should not fear the government for it is the government who should fear the people" UNKNOWN

"If You are looking for solutions to the world's problems , look in the Mirror , You Are The Solution , You have the power as a human being on this planet " UNKNOWN

"They don't control us , We empower them " UNKNOWN

"Serial Killers do on a Small Scale What Governments do on a large one..."

Serial Killer Richard Ramirez

There is a Class War going on in America, & unfortunately, my class is winning." Warren Buffet

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

Thomas Jefferson

"College is a waste of Money"
Albert Einstein

Schools manufacture people who think that they're smart but they're not.
Robert Kiyosaki

Education is what you learn after you leave School
Robert Kiyosaki

" ‏Schools were designed to create employees for the big corporations."
Robert Kiyosaki


"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey, he is obligated to do so" Thomas Jefferson

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism
Thomas Jefferson

“True education makes you feel stupid. It makes you realize you have so much more to learn.” Robert Kiyosaki


"One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching." - Gerard Way

"Aspire not to have More but to be More "
UNKNOWN

The losers in life think they have all the answers. They can’t learn because they’re too busy telling everyone what they know.
Robert T. Kiyosaki ‏

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again. -This time more intelligently." Henry Ford

What You Own Owns You
UNKNOWN

If you expect the government to solve your problems, you have a problem. Robert Kiyosaki

"Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security." Benjamin Franklin

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” -
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Always trust someone who is seeking the truth , never trust someone who found it" Jordan Maxwell

Be The Change you want to see in The World
UNKNOWN

Failure inspires winners but defeats losers
Robert Kiyosaki ‏

“If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people” A Chinese Proverb

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me." UNKNOWN