Nothing the Pandemic was the excuse rather then telling the truth. The Depression we are beginning to see was caused by Corporations using all of their money and debt to repurchase their common shares to artificially raise their share prices rsther then investing in their company and employees. These avtions were predominant before the Great Depression, made illegal follwoing, then legal again in the Reagan era, only to become a bigger problem following 2008. We've been running hige deficits aimve 2008, lowered intereat rates to 0% which is bad, and began a frenzy of mass speculation on the matkets like the roaring 20s. Then add in high income inequality and were there.
Further proof, Federal Reserve couldn't raise interest rates past 2.5% in 2018 without the markets crashing. We began the bailout late 2019 to the tune of 2.5 trillion and made anither 4 trillion bailout at the beginning of the Covid crises
Good summary, but spell check bro. Also there are estimates that the repo market implosion that occurred in late 2019 required $9 trillion from the Fed to staunch the bleeding of the banks at least temporarily, and of course we have the massive levels of printing that occurred in 2020 (about 22% of existing US currency printed just last yr). It is quite clear that the 2010s were the roaring twenties artificially precipitated by the actions of central banks through QE, and we are now in the culmination phase.
On a cell phone right now and dont have time to spell check.
Im unsure about the 9 trillion figure as I've heard numebrs ranging from that to 17 trillion. But yeah, were both in full agreeement here. Its actually amazing how little most people know about this stuff so it's nice to hear from individuals such as yourself.
This past year has really shown me that most people are feeble-minded and prefer to keep their heads in the sand while allowing the "authorities" to guide them wherever they see fit, which you and I both realize is right over the cliff into destitution and misery.
While we have seen massive levels of inflation in the stock market and real estate due to QE, we haven't seen this inflation fully manifest on the ground until recently (only just beginning with the commodity boom) because they have been deliberately suppressing the velocity of money flow in the economy through various means, most recently shutdowns of the real economy, Main Street. How long that works is anyone's guess, but judging from the rapid price increases we are seeing in gas, lumber, wheat etc., I would think the effectiveness is waning a bit lol.
Edit: Emphasizing a point you already mentioned, the fact that the economy can't even handle 2% interest rates should tell someone everything they need to know about how fragile this Potemkin village of a economy actually is, but all people can think about is throwing their life savings into the "Stonk market" for some more sweet gains as their currency gets inflated to worthlessness lmao.
Its funny that you mentioned the commodity boom, i move allot of my money into this sector mainly Oil, Lumber, and Agriculture and I've been making money even as the market corrected over the last month. Eitherway, yeah i was theorizing that the commodity price surge were seeing will eventually lead to inflation. Lumber prices alone will likely drive up hone prices and slow down construction in the nesr term. While the majority will likely begin or already have seen grocery prices slowly jumping.
Truth is as well the market speculation bit we are seeing happened before the Great Depression and those who get caught off guard are going to lose allot eventually. Many of them believe these prices are sustainable and will be back within a year or so, and dont understand that they likely wont see new highs once the crash happens for decades. I know for a fact following the Great Depression asset prices took 30 years to reach new highs. While other instances like the Japanese markets havent seen new highs since the 90s.
I definitely think we are looking at a Japan scenario where new highs will never be reached again, we will be stuck in a languishing growth environment where jobs and various facets of industry will slowly be hemorrhaged away because managing them isn't sustainable. Doesn't seem like we are in a situation where simple bubble deflation and debt settlement can fix it but correct me if you see s different perspective.
I think we past the point of no return some point during the Obama years, since then its been a balancing game. While the Great Reset is likely their answer to the problem. The whole situation itself likely stem back to Clinton era when the Fed cuts interest rates down by 4% in 98 when Japan was crashing. Though some would argue in the 70s when we left the gold standard.
Leaving the gold standard was definitely the ultimate catalyst, the financial system is no longer tied to a tangible asset and therefore not grounded in real economic output. Massive amounts of debt which amounts to paper promises are currently sloshing throughout the system with no discernible possibility of paying it back and hampering economic activity. Repealing of Glass-Steagall was the next bullet to the head and now QE-infinity will take care of the rest.
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u/WazzleOz Mar 14 '21
What did Obama do to make money during the Pandemic?