Is Quantitative Easing Money Printing? Quantitative Easing is often referred to as "money printing" or a way for the government to increase the money supply. According to Wikipedia, quantitative easing is different from the typical method whereby governments buy treasury debt to increase the money supply. In QE1 when the market was panicked, and banks didn't want to buy government bonds, the central bank implemented "quantitative easing" by purchasing relatively worthless financial assets (like mortgage backed securities) from banks and giving them new electronically created money. So this is straight forward money printing compared to the more round about traditional method. Thus … [Read more...]
How The FED Prints Money- Part 4
This is part 4 in the video series on the effects of Quantitative Easing by Chris Ciovacco the Chief Investment Officer for Ciovacco Capital Management. To see the other parts How the FED Prints Money, How the FED Prints Money – Part 2, How The FED Prints Money- Part 3 … [Read more...]
How The FED Prints Money- Part 3
Last week we looked at who gets all the money the FED prints and before that we looked at the process the FED uses to get the money "Out of Thin Air" and into the hands of people who can spend it. Today we are going to look at what is "Quantitative Easing" well it sounds cool anyway... ~editor What is Quantitative Easing? Fed’s Perspective & Writings Part 3 in a 6 Part Video Series on Quantitative Easing A Wall Street Journal article (10/27/10) on quantitative easing (QE) hints the Fed will take a middle of the road approach in terms of the size and duration of QE2. As we would expect, the stock and commodity markets’ initial reaction is negative. A middle of the road … [Read more...]
How the FED Prints Money – Part 2
Yesterday we looked at the process the FED uses to get the money "Out of Thin Air" and into the hands of people who can spend it. In other words the "how" they do this magic. Basically, that route is through special dealers and then it goes into a few select hands. Today we are not going to look at the "how" but instead we will look at "Who" gets the money and where it is likely to go from there. Because if we know where it is likely to go we can get there first and profit from the incoming cash flow. ~Tim McMahon, editor Quantitative Easing (QE2): Who Gets the Fed’s Printed Money? Part 2 of a 6 Part Video Series on Quantitative Easing: In Part 1: How the FED Prints Money, we … [Read more...]
How the FED Prints Money
Printing Money: The process of "printing" money is always a kind of mystery to most people since only about 10% of the total money supply is actually in physical currency. Technically most of the money isn't printed so the term should be "money creation" or "money supply expansion" but "printing money" is used euphemistically to include all forms of expanding the money supply. The monetary base (or money supply) is typically controlled by adjusting monetary policy. This is usually done by the central bank (in the U.S. this is the Federal Reserve Bank or FED). The FED changes the monetary base through "open market transactions" (i.e., buying and selling of government bonds). The FED also … [Read more...]
Deflation or Inflation: Can Helicopter Ben Come to the Rescue?
Why the Fed Cannot Stop Deflation Countless people say that deflation is impossible because the Federal Reserve Bank can just print money to stave off deflation. If the Fed’s main jobs were simply establishing new checking accounts and grinding out banknotes, that’s what it might do. But in terms of volume, that has not been the Fed’s primary function, which for 89 years has been in fact to foster the expansion of credit. Printed fiat currency depends almost entirely upon the whims of the issuer, but credit is another matter entirely. What the Fed does is to set or influence certain very short-term interbank loan rates. It sets the discount rate, which is the Fed’s nominal near-term … [Read more...]
Stimulus Up But Inflation at 1.15% and Falling?
By Tim McMahon, editor Consumer prices have risen at a meager 1.15% over the last 12 months-- despite massive stimulus and growing commitments from the U.S. government. So what's going on? Deflationary forces are strengthening. They are being spurred on by high unemployment rates creating an overwhelming need for consumers to liquidate their assets for cash. As this new economic phase is becoming a reality, expectations are compounding the effects as explained in recent commentary from the world's largest technical analysis firm. "The economy is moving into a critical new phase, an outright deflation in which 'prices fall because people expect falling prices.' Obviously, this … [Read more...]
Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany vs. The U.S. Now
Postcards From Weimar Germany Justice Litle, Editorial Director, Taipan Publishing Group Monday, September 20, 2010 The Weimar Republic is perhaps the quintessential example of hyperinflation. But the buildup took longer than one might think. Walter Levy is a German-born oil consultant. His father, a German lawyer, took out a life insurance policy in 1903. Every month he had made the payments faithfully," recounts Levy. "It was a twenty-year policy, and when it came due, he cashed it in and bought a single loaf of bread. Such was life in the German Weimar Republic. Things got so bad there for a while, dentists and doctors stopped asking for currency, seeking … [Read more...]
The Smoking Ruin Solution
By David Galland, Managing Director, Casey Research Just last week, it was reported that the turnout for the Democratic primary was the lowest in 80 years. While the Republicans are clearly energized by their concerns about the direction the Democrats are taking the country in, the Democrats themselves seem to have decided to forgo the voting process, perhaps in favor of a refreshing nap. No question about it, the president is in the hot seat. While I am sure that back in 2008 Barack Obama was one happy camper about having taken the presidential prize, today one has to wonder if that victory has led him to certain bitter regrets. His problem, the problem bedeviling the government … [Read more...]
Deflation: Micro vs. Macro
Deflation By Joshua Burnett If you’re anything like me, one of the problems you run into when trying to convince someone that the hyperinflation scenario will occur is an argument that revolves around us currently being in a deflationary period. People (and those involved with the economy and stock market especially) have a hard time seeing looming hyperinflation (that might occur as soon as a year and a half away) when what they’re currently seeing is… deflation. But wait a second; how in the wide world of sports are we seeing deflation when we’ve been printing money like our lives depend on it? Let’s return to market fundamentals, and the ever-present difference between macro and … [Read more...]