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"All the world's wealth" is tough to define as well. If someone were fetching for us, I wonder about cash (us dollars). If total cash (paper bills) is known subtract bills known to be deposited or in custody and the difference would be physical cash supposed to be sloshing around out there in all its readily spendable anonymous glory. how much would that be? and how much bitcoin would that buy ?From 2021: "In the scope of the world’s wealth, the value held in Bitcoin is miniscule. If we assume that this quadrillion roughly represents the total value of assets in the world, then Bitcoin represents 0.1% of all wealth in existence."
Elihu » Mon Apr 08, 2024 8:39 pm wrote:Elvis, what do you make of the fact that the fedgov publishes something in the way of income and outgo. It is my understanding that the largest fedgov outgo is now interest on the debt. Over a tril annually I think? What do you make of that?
Elihu » Mon Apr 08, 2024 5:39 pm wrote:Elvis, what do you make of the fact that the fedgov publishes something in the way of income and outgo. It is my understanding that the largest fedgov outgo is now interest on the debt. Over a tril annually I think? What do you make of that?
Elihu » Tue Apr 09, 2024 6:24 pm wrote:editing to make use of this accidental double post, bitcoin is valued at 1 point three trillion usd, am I reading that right? how would that compare to paper bills in circulation?
and edited again! https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/p ... fargo-says
of tangential interest imo. probably aint poor folks buying . i agree with their conclusion
i'm not sure we're looking at the situation the same. Your points seem valid but I'm not looking at where it goes and what effect it could have on the economy depending on policy etc, etc, etc.the interest payments go to holders of Treasury bonds---mostly banks and other institutional holders. Most are rolled over into new Treasuries.
The payments to banks otherwise just sit as added reserves, with no real effect on the real economy.
Ditto institutional holders (hedge funds, pension funds etc.), who generally just roll it over into new govt bonds.
Wealthy individuals may 'cash out' their interest payments and spend them, but the rich have a low 'marginal propensity to spend'; only if they spend enough to "trickle down" into the real economy is the possibility of demand-driven inflation a problem. (This may have contributed to lingering inflation recently, as the interest payments shot up.)
The problem boils down to increased wealth inequality---which is at an all-time high in the US and growing.
The issue is not "the debt" but rather the jacked-up interest rate, as the (Republican) Fed chair follows the tenets of "trickle-down" economics: raise interest rates to fight any and all inflation---regardless of the cause. This naturally puts the burden on workers, who lose jobs and see lower wages---that's the whole point of raising the interest rate. This is the Fed's way of "slowing the economy"---on the backs of working people.
Congress outsourced key parts of its money creation & management of the dollar to the Federal Reserve, as "trickle-down" policy places all responsibility for the economy on monetary policy, while ignoring fiscal policy as the (obviously) preferable tool for managing the economy. I think a central bank is a good thing, if monetary policy is conducted sensibly.
To sum up: the high interest payments caused by needless & misguided Fed rate increases is only a problem in terms of growing wealth inequality. The US government will never "go broke" and has been spending more than it taxes back for 230 years. Money comes from the government. One of the government's jobs is to provide money, so it will normally always be in the negative ("in the red"), if the private sector is to be in the positive ("in the black").
Elihu wrote: They can make interest payments by "borrowing" more money from the very same people they owe money to. Sounds great like this could go on forever right?
Elihu wrote: does the interest in the payment consume any of your resources?
Japan Intervenes After Yen Slides Against the Dollar
The yen has plummeted this year as traders shift bets on U.S. interest rates
By Kosaku Narioka and Weilun Soon
Updated April 29, 2024 at 8:03 am ET
The intervention came after weeks of speculation by traders that Tokyo was gearing up to help its beleaguered currency.
SINGAPORE—Japan intervened to prop up the yen after it hit a multi-decade low against the dollar on Monday, people familiar with the matter said.
David Andolfatto
@dandolfa
Japan should just let its currency devalue. What is the point of propping it up?
Belligerent Savant » Mon Apr 29, 2024 6:18 am wrote:Any thoughts from the RI braintrust as to these recent developments (causes, likely events to follow, etc)?
https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/japanese ... n-4bd27f50
Japan Intervenes After Yen Slides Against the Dollar
The yen has plummeted this year as traders shift bets on U.S. interest rates
By Kosaku Narioka and Weilun Soon
Updated April 29, 2024 at 8:03 am ET
The intervention came after weeks of speculation by traders that Tokyo was gearing up to help its beleaguered currency.
SINGAPORE—Japan intervened to prop up the yen after it hit a multi-decade low against the dollar on Monday, people familiar with the matter said.
Additional Google or other search browser queries will yield more info on this development. The above is merely a sampling.
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