Why not just print dollars?

[boriss3]

Effectively, you know, printing pounds is unlawful, but why danger printing bucks when you can get bitcoin

[Beicin]

Living in high inflation countries sucks for the people. The system only benefits those are the very top. I really hope cryptocurrencies arrive to change this.

[lordquanta]

Anyone who is interested in printing dollars or any other currency (including issueing unlimited quantities of crypto) consider what happened in Zimbabwe, or in post WW2 Germany. In both of these countries you literally would have needed a truckload of money to but a loaf of bread. The money wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.

Correct. If inflation needs to be control then there needs to be some kind of fiscal policy, monetary policy etc. Implementing these kind of policies helps in keeping tAB on inflation. However main problem is when a country accepts loan based development model then debt ridden economy is bound to get into trouble. Thus on macro level staying away from debt-oriented schemes as much as possible will definitely help.
It is important to cure the cause of the problem not the symptoms of problem.

[Conevesses1976]

That is what I am pondering before, if you will print a lot more funds no particular person will be poor.  Every person can try to eat something they want.   No one will be homeless.  No 1 will be hungry.  But wealth is not created by just printing cash, it is only represented by it.   When our governments do print much more funds, we will have an  inflation.  And I heard just before that each and every money that you print there is a corresponding price for it. 

[jaysabi]

The answer to this question is simple. Inflation.

Inflation will happen if we just print paper money to pay debts because the money supply will increase. And and as the money supply increases, its currency value then decreases. Simple economics. Now would you rather pay the debts in a long way or pay your bills, consumer goods and everything in a very spiked up price? Everything needs to be balance and so is the money supply in order to have a good economy.

In addition, US treasury only decides when to print money. Federal reserves control the supply creating interest rates. Economy play an important role here, if the supply of money increase, the interest will be lower and businesses will increase because of lower interest. Spending will be more frequent. Just like you said, it was simply inflation.

This is not entirely true. Most money creation comes from the fractional reserve banking system, which the Fed can influence on a macro level with policy, but does not control on a micro-level. Because banks only have to hold 10% of their deposits and can lend the rest (thus creating more money), it is essentially the demand for loans which increases the money supply; banks are just a willing instrument on the supply side, since a bank cannot expand the money supply without someone who desires to take out a loan. This is a healthy function of an expanding economy, since the taking of a loan is confidence that the borrower will create more value than the loan is made, thus enabling him to pay it back with interest.

[ripti]

If the governments or central banks of the countries starts to print dollars, they face an incredible inflation in prices of gods.The maintenance is almost nothing for its value today. Maybe bitcoin is not that easy I'm real world yet. Everybody will have their bank and if it happens then what to regulate and how to regulate the market

[loyseu]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpW_KMHlAmo

Why borrow dollars and then pay back by printing them?

Why take the long way around?

You can't print money whenever you want it is not like bitcon. And you can't print miney without a such materials that is needed to make a paper money. It is not bitcoin that if you want it anytime you can get it rigjt away and there is an individual who controlll the release of papee money not like in bitcoin, you have a freedon to own a big amount.

[joebrook]

Printing more money doesn't solve the economic problems of a country, on the other hand it makes the economy plunge and we can see this in the economy of Zimbabwe in Africa where people use truckload of a money just to buy a single fish this has lead to the government redonominating their currency several times.

[tenakha]

Basic two rule: Supply and demand. If everyone has enough money sellers will invrease price because everyone can afford low prices and stock will get dumped by buyers.Inflation is bad for economy and printing money is way to cheat economic growth rates with palying numbers.

[hahay]

Printing more money doesn't solve the economic problems of a country, on the other hand it makes the economy plunge and we can see this in the economy of Zimbabwe in Africa where people use truckload of a money just to buy a single fish this has lead to the government redonominating their currency several times.

Is that true? I do not know if in zimbabwe there is a truck containing money just to buy single fish, what is that fish? But yes I also agree, a country does not have to keep printing money with a lot, because to improve the economy of a country must provide a lot of work places for the needs of the community can be met.

[megynacuna]

Basic two rule: Supply and demand. If everyone has enough money sellers will invrease price because everyone can afford low prices and stock will get dumped by buyers.Inflation is bad for economy and printing money is way to cheat economic growth rates with palying numbers.

Exactly, just like you cannot eat your cake and have it back, there are ramifications for any government and its economy if they print out more fiats without proper adherence to regulations and market stabilization. Nobody will work again then.

[winterland]

...

There's an argument, that I have seen explored a little at Zero Hedge, that printing money would be better than taxation.

This is an exotic argument that I have not had a chance nor even the ability (yet) to properly wrap my brain around with it.

A first thought:

Eliminating taxation, of course, would likely anger the poor (they pay low taxes, except various consumption taxes).  Envy and resentment would likely prevent this idea of eliminating taxation altogether.

*   *   *

I am already convinced that gold ought not be linked to currency (that is, no "Gold Standard").  A Gold Standard would function poorly IMO.  Gold's best and highest value use is as a Store of Value.

Gold <> Money in that sense.  Most define money as roughly filling three roles: Unit of Account, Medium of Exchange, and Store of Value.  But, we are perhaps soon at the point of monetary failure, the US$ will not (cannot) fulfill those three roles of "money".

Printing more money will be a general tax to everything, while that may seem like a good idea what this will create will be an even greater race to get more profits since you want to offset inflation, besides no one will want to save in fiat since its value will always diminish, so you are going to create a society where the velocity of money is too fast and that is never good.

[Zero.X]

Printing more of a currency causes inflation, or basically the more of a currency, the less valuable it becomes. Think of diamonds -- if there was only 1 diamond in the world, it would probably be worth more than anything else in the world. But now if there were enough diamonds in the world for every person on earth and their ancestor and their descendants, probably not going to be worth as much.

[Allura74]

One can not print because the state has made some exercise illegal and so doing such would amount to a crime. Going by the social contract theory, the populace have given their right in unison to the government in return for better protection and welfare and so, one can't print because it is a role that has been put to the jurisdiction of the government to provide and so going contrary to the social contract would be crime more or less.

That things can be possible because of our technology but the authority doesn't recognize it so therefore it is illegal,a money laundering and it will be considered as fake money., because money in every country defines of what is the economic status of it.

[batang_bitcoin]

Printing more of a currency causes inflation, or basically the more of a currency, the less valuable it becomes. Think of diamonds -- if there was only 1 diamond in the world, it would probably be worth more than anything else in the world. But now if there were enough diamonds in the world for every person on earth and their ancestor and their descendants, probably not going to be worth as much.

Yes that's why we can't just print it again and again like without limitations. When I was a kid, I'm thinking about this out of my imagination I didn't know that this will cause a big problem to the economy of a country. And even in local currencies, they can't just keep on printing their paper money because it will affect a lot of businesses. And that's why it's good to have bitcoin that has 21 Million supply limit.

[TomUyamot]

the good point of bitcoin ... is that you can print paper money if you want : https://www.bitaddress.org


and, it's real value !  



Bitcoin is a perfect thing.





Plan B.

I like the way you make a very brilliant explanation through pictures. This is striking the bull's eye of the issue. Fiat money is just a piece of paper that is basically without any value. The governments simply imposed to the people how it is being used and how it is provided value. And then without our knowing it, we are all becoming a slave of it despite the lack of it. We are almost zero in terms of real knowledge as well as decision about fiat regulation. At least for bitcoin, it does not go unlimited.

[ivrynx]

Printing a lot of dollar, will only result to it's destruction, the dollar will be weak,  since there will be a lot of surplus, if we check out what had happened in Zimbabwe, Greece, Spain, Portugal, what they thought that if they print a lot of money, it will also have the same value, which in turn, it did not, since we are talking about currency, the law of supply and demand still applies here, the more they print their money, the more it looses it's buying power, that why if you look at the dollar, it tends to be the standard, and showing a great buying power , that's why in my country 1 usd is equivalent to 50php, and you can already buy a lot just by using 50 php. However when it comes to real assets, you buy them because their value increases overtime and lucky for us, Bitcoin is limited, and will further increase in value, in time,  and will surely be there dominant currency around, and one thing is for sure, the dollar can experience depression, however Bitcoin does not, since it can be exchanged to different Fiat currencies, giving it more leverage over the dollar.

[Xenophoto]

Printing a lot of dollar, will only result to it's destruction, the dollar will be weak,  since there will be a lot of surplus, if we check out what had happened in Zimbabwe, Greece, Spain, Portugal, what they thought that if they print a lot of money, it will also have the same value, which in turn, it did not, since we are talking about currency, the law of supply and demand still applies here, the more they print their money, the more it looses it's buying power, that why if you look at the dollar, it tends to be the standard, and showing a great buying power , that's why in my country 1 usd is equivalent to 50php, and you can already buy a lot just by using 50 php. However when it comes to real assets, you buy them because their value increases overtime and lucky for us, Bitcoin is limited, and will further increase in value, in time,  and will surely be there dominant currency around, and one thing is for sure, the dollar can experience depression, however Bitcoin does not, since it can be exchanged to different Fiat currencies, giving it more leverage over the dollar.

I don't think that the same thing will really apply with USD because USA is a dominant country. I don't know about Greece, Spain, and Portugal but I do know that Zimbabwean dollars were printed out in larger denominations and I'm talking about billions and trillions. Just imagine having one dollar, 5 dollar, 20 dollar, 100 dollars denomination and then all of a sudden the country have made 1 billion dollar denominations. That will surely make the people crazy as well as the economy. I don't think that is what's happening in here at all. Even if US prints dollars nonstop, if it's just a small denomination for each paper, then it will never ever have the same effect as printing large denominations.

Most currencies are subject to inflation so to save yourself, you basically just have to find a good store of value like bitcoin. I'm actually liking the inflation that's going on in my country because I get paid in dollars and that makes me more money in my currency. I'm not affected by the decrease of the purchasing power of our currency compared to people that gets paid in fiat. If everything in your country has their price increasing (e.g. gas, food, transportation, etc.) then your currency is probably having lower and lower purchasing power.

[Strught85]

Really you are speaking about bitcoins which is but to come about all above the world and if it transpires it will lessen kf commodities to a huge prolong and almost everything will be cashless.

[djgtr]

Really you are speaking about bitcoins which is but to come about all above the world and if it transpires it will lessen kf commodities to a huge prolong and almost everything will be cashless.

well i think wr cant really just print a dollar because as people of a one coubtry we have a government who has the controll of all the kinds of validity they have saled everything .and they only have the power to make things valid.maybewe cant just print as dollars because we dont have the power to make it valid .and if we do so maybe we are going to prisoned because we falsificating a government property that was really falsificating a public document .only the government has a power to make it valid.