Fed on brink of fifth(?) round of quantitative easing

[larry_vw_1955]

But, yeah. 200 EUR extra income can cover all that. Kudos to the governments.  

i don't know what governments you're talking about buddy, but the USA ain't one of them. Federal minimum wage here hasn't changed since like 2009. And its unliveable. and yet we have tons of bank holidays where federal workers get paid for playing golf. go figure. the government here doesn't raise minimum wage ever.

maybe OP would consider my idea: cut out the 11 bank holidays where federal workers get paid for sitting on their bums and use that to pay down the budget deficit...

[1714765475]

1714765475

[1714765475]

1714765475

[1714765475]

1714765475

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Nope. FED has printed more money than any other country.

If you're going to say that, I hope you'll provide a link to support it, because I doubt very much that the USA has printed more than Venezuela, Argentina or Zimbabwe.

Venezuela to introduce 1-million-bolivar bill as inflation persists

14m bolivars for a chicken: Venezuela hyperinflation explained

USD doesn't devalue that much compared to other currencies, because it's required for: 1) SWIFT transfers, 2) petro-dollar (oil payments).

That is only partly true, or partly false, because having the highest GDP in the world is just as important, if not more important, than the two factors you mention.

USD doesn't have any future beyond 2030.

LMAO. I've heard that one before, although this time it might actually happen. As in the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

[o_e_l_e_o]

If you aren't convinced yet that wages don't increase in the same rate as with cost of living, then I don't know what to say.

Don't worry, though. CEO pay has gone up hundreds of times. And that's all that really matters, right!?

maybe OP would consider my idea: cut out the 11 bank holidays where federal workers get paid for sitting on their bums and use that to pay down the budget deficit...

So your solution to the fact that wages haven't kept up with inflation is to take away 2 weeks of PTO from federal employees?

How exactly does that help? Make everyone work more hours for less money? Make them just survive and no more, and have no disposable income to buy anything other than the bare essentials? That's not exactly a route to a thriving economy, which is what is actually needed in order to bring down the deficit.

This thread is getting more and more off topic as time goes on so I may lock it soon.

[cryptosize]

USD doesn't have any future beyond 2030.

not even for buying big macs?

It doesn't have a future as a global reserve currency, that's what I meant. British pound still exists, but it's no longer what it used to be. Right?

Something else will replace it, nothing lasts forever:

[larry_vw_1955]

So your solution to the fact that wages haven't kept up with inflation is to take away 2 weeks of PTO from federal employees?

no of course not. those are 2 separate issues...

https://www.cbo.gov/topics/employment-and-labor-markets/federal-personnel

The federal government employs about 2¼ million military personnel (of whom about 1 million are reservists) and about 2¼ million civilian personnel (of whom nearly 60 percent work for the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security). CBO assesses the pay and benefits of the nation’s armed forces and civil servants as well as proposals to change the compensation of those workers.


But paying 5 million people 11 days wage while they don't even work every single year makes me wonder if any of them are really necessary in the first place and how many of them could we get rid of and still things would run smoothly. 5 million times 11 days times say $100 per day. You do the math. That's money we could use to pay down the government debt. $5 billion.

How exactly does that help? Make everyone work more hours for less money? Make them just survive and no more, and have no disposable income to buy anything other than the bare essentials? That's not exactly a route to a thriving economy, which is what is actually needed in order to bring down the deficit.

I want to see the federal government actually raising the minimum wage to $25 per hour.

This thread is getting more and more off topic as time goes on so I may lock it soon.

Fair enough but all these fiscal issues have more to do with unfair treatment of peoples wages than I think alot of realize...

[philipma1957]

Feds now have a new war action to figure in. I am guessing a strong move up. 0.50%

As for wages. New York went to 20 bucks with built in cost of living numbers added.

All that does is weaken the middle class by making the poor get more and the middle stay still.

If you are going to give a nice raise to the poor you need to raise the tax on the people earning 500k.

Then the poor gain on both the middle and on the rich.

If you don’t sweat the rich you are simply wiping out the middle class.

[o_e_l_e_o]

But paying 5 million people 11 days wage while they don't even work every single year makes me wonder if any of them are really necessary in the first place and how many of them could we get rid of and still things would run smoothly. 5 million times 11 days times say $100 per day. You do the math. That's money we could use to pay down the government debt. $5 billion.

So given that on the last day last week we added another $35 billion to the debt, then in a year we would save approximately 3.5 hours worth of debt. All just to hammer some working class people a bit more. God forbid they get any PTO! Probably worth pointing out that most other developed nations give their workers somewhere in the region of 30 days a year.

You are barking up the wrong tree, here. The deficit and the debt will not be solved by squeezing workers ever harder and making average people poorer and poorer. We need much larger scale institutional changes, which will never happen precisely because they would not benefit the people at the top responsible for making such decisions.

For example, we discussed this earlier in this thread:

The completely unnecessary extra 6-7% of GDP we spend over and above European countries because of our moronic healthcare system equates to about $1.4 trillion.

If we moved to a healthcare system which cut out insurers and useless middlemen, we wouldn't save billions a year, but trillions. Every other developed nation manages it - why not us? Because our politicians are bought by medical insurance companies.

[larry_vw_1955]

So given that on the last day last week we added another $35 billion to the debt, then in a year we would save approximately 3.5 hours worth of debt. All just to hammer some working class people a bit more.

I don't have any problem with people getting paid time off (PTO as you seem to affectionately call it) as long as their EMPLOYER pays for it and not the taxpayers. And I take issue with you calling federal employees "working class people" they get more benefits than people that work in the private sector more raises everything more. They are privileged class, not working class and I dont like them getting paid for not working since the taxpayers are paying for it.

God forbid they get any PTO! Probably worth pointing out that most other developed nations give their workers somewhere in the region of 30 days a year.

why should only federal employees get paid for not working. why can't fast food employees or people that drive for uber? why put federal employees into a privileged position and then force me to pay for their holidays?

You are barking up the wrong tree, here. The deficit and the debt will not be solved by squeezing workers ever harder and making average people poorer and poorer.

well again, federal employees are not poor or average. they are above average income they get all the benefits and everything why should I the taxpayer have to foot the bill for them to celebrate Martin Luther King day?

We need much larger scale institutional changes, which will never happen precisely because they would not benefit the people at the top responsible for making such decisions.

well so you're saying the leaders don't want to erase the budget deficit and national debt? well if that's a fact then why even discuss the national debt problem at all since it will never be solved. but the way i see it, every 5 or 10 billion you can shave off helps. assuming we want to erase the national debt. maybe that's not a safe assumption though, apparently according to you.

For example, we discussed this earlier in this thread:

The completely unnecessary extra 6-7% of GDP we spend over and above European countries because of our moronic healthcare system equates to about $1.4 trillion.

If we moved to a healthcare system which cut out insurers and useless middlemen, we wouldn't save billions a year, but trillions. Every other developed nation manages it - why not us? Because our politicians are bought by medical insurance companies.

so your whole thing is, let's not make small changes because so far we haven't been able to make larger ones. that doesn't seem very rational  

[cryptosize]

well so you're saying the leaders don't want to erase the budget deficit and national debt? well if that's a fact then why even discuss the national debt problem at all since it will never be solved. but the way i see it, every 5 or 10 billion you can shave off helps. assuming we want to erase the national debt. maybe that's not a safe assumption though, apparently according to you.

Spoiler alert: it's mathematically impossible to erase national debts. It's an exercise in futility.

Think about it for a second (how the fiat Ponzi pyramid works): FED lends you $100 and expects you to pay back $105 after 1 year. Or a lot more after 20-40 years.

Where are you going to find the extra money to pay the interest? That amount of money doesn't exist. You only got $100. Where are you going to find the extra $5?

You will have to raise your prices accordingly, no matter what you sell (products or services).

And what about people who buy from you? They're also going to raise their prices.

This is what causes inflation. It's a HUGE pyramid:



In reality inflation is not really needed (a HUGE lie being perpetuated by 99.99% of economists -> there's a "consensus" about it), because tech progress means everything becomes cheaper (technology is deflationary):





Eventually more money will be injected in the economy via issuing debt. FED keeps printing more and more money. Because everyone and their mom is a debt slave.

For me this was one of the biggest lessons Bitcoin offered me. Because it was designed to be a debt-free alternative.

I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet (were you indeed born in 1955?).

Save yourself and stop trying to save the masses. 90% of them are too dumb/clueless to realize they're caught up in a legalized Ponzi scheme (because that's what fiat money + interest is).

Madoff's pyramid wasn't legal, but the fiat dollar is a state-sanctioned Ponzi pyramid scheme.

[o_e_l_e_o]

why should only federal employees get paid for not working. why can't fast food employees or people that drive for uber? why put federal employees into a privileged position and then force me to pay for their holidays?

Do fast food workers not deserve PTO as well? What is with your race to the bottom, to make everyone except the super rich suffer? Perhaps we should be looking to improve the conditions for all workers, rather than slashing the meager benefits that already exist for a handful of workers?

well if that's a fact then why even discuss the national debt problem at all since it will never be solved.

Because it affects us all when our debt hits 300% of GDP, our economy collapses, and the USD becomes worthless.

so your whole thing is, let's not make small changes because so far we haven't been able to make larger ones. that doesn't seem very rational  

My point is you can make all the small changes you want to the detriment of 99% of the population, and all you will do is slow the speed the of debt increase and never actually halt or reverse it. If you want to actually address the problem and not just delay it, then we need much larger scale changes.

[larry_vw_1955]

Do fast food workers not deserve PTO as well?

that's up to burger king or mcdonalds to decide not for me. and i won't have an opinion on how they run their private business.

What is with your race to the bottom, to make everyone except the super rich suffer?

i think you're going off on a tangent. we shouldn't be trying to justify paying federal employees on federal holidays by saying the justification for it is because they are not "super rich". most of them probably make over $60,000 per year and i bet none of them is anywhere near the federal poverty level which is a joke in itself. the federal poverty level guidelines should be $35,000 for a single person. not $11,000 or whatever ridiculous number it is. call that number what it really is : the homeless level.  

Perhaps we should be looking to improve the conditions for all workers, rather than slashing the meager benefits that already exist for a handful of workers?

federal workers shouldn't be in a priviledged position. if they get paid for federal holidays then everyone should. but guess what everyone doesnt.

Because it affects us all when our debt hits 300% of GDP, our economy collapses, and the USD becomes worthless.

then start being more willing to consider things that could reduce that debt even if they don't reduce it all the way down as far as you might like. if they have a lasting impact on spending that's what matters. erasing 5 billion per year (maybe more like 10) might not seem like it could have any impact but if you come up with 9 other similar sized reductions we're already at a tenth of a trillion dollars. you have to start somewhere and you're not going to start out by one big swoop necessarily. if you're waiting for that to happen then you may be disappointed.

My point is you can make all the small changes you want to the detriment of 99% of the population, and all you will do is slow the speed the of debt increase and never actually halt or reverse it. If you want to actually address the problem and not just delay it, then we need much larger scale changes.

federal workers are not 99% of the population. i don't know what percent they are but i bet they make up less than 25% of the workforce. probably only 12% would be my guess. and we're supposed to feel sorry for them with all their high salaries and fringe benefits if they can't get paid on juneteenth for not working? no thanks.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Think about it for a second (how the fiat Ponzi pyramid works): FED lends you $100 and expects you to pay back $105 after 1 year. Or a lot more after 20-40 years.

In the end we see the steady increase in debt that we can see on sites such as World Debt Clocks is a logical and expected consequence of the fiat system. The alternative is bankruptcy. When the $105 has to be paid back but only $100 has been printed, there are only two options: when the money cannot be paid back, either bankruptcies or to print more, refinance and make the ball bigger, devaluing the purchasing power of the money more and more as a consequence.

Let us not forget that bitcoin was created precisely as an alternative system to this.

[o_e_l_e_o]

most of them probably make over $60,000 per year and i bet none of them is anywhere near the federal poverty level which is a joke in itself. the federal poverty level guidelines should be $35,000 for a single person. not $11,000 or whatever ridiculous number it is. call that number what it really is : the homeless level.  

Completely agree that a salary of $11,000 is almost unlivable, but let's not fool ourselves in to thinking $60,000 is rich by any means.

if you come up with 9 other similar sized reductions we're already at a tenth of a trillion dollars.

Which again, is nothing. We've added another $40 billion to the debt since my last post. Even with 10 such proposals you are making, you delay the inevitable by a day or two, at most.

and we're supposed to feel sorry for them with all their high salaries and fringe benefits if they can't get paid on juneteenth for not working? no thanks.

Don't you see that's what the government want? Worker against worker. Focus all your anger on some other person who is just slightly better off than you are. Never mind the multinational corporations evading billions in tax, never mind the banks laundering hundreds of billions, never mind the trillions wasted in our ridiculous healthcare or military budgets.

When the $105 has to be paid back but only $100 has been printed, there are only two options: when the money cannot be paid back, either bankruptcies or to print more, refinance and make the ball bigger, devaluing the purchasing power of the money more and more as a consequence.

Yup, we can't possibly let the billionaire banks fail. Money printer goes BRRRR to bail them out, because who cares about the average Joe getting poorer and poorer as this goes on.

[STT]

I've lost track of where the FED might be however I think its a given they will always operate an easy money policy.  The present 'high' rate rises are surprising but temporary is my take, purely because the government cannot afford to service its debt at this level.  Calculate the interest payable long term if these rate levels were forever and the interest exceeds the amounts spent on defence and other large items so far as I know.
  That will be too much, the far easier road to take is always the rates are lower then inflation and this is how debt is repaid.

we can't possibly let the billionaire banks fail.

Primary dealers are banks who create the demand for the treasury debt sales.  Last thing we can afford is any lack of demand for the national debt or it'd not be the FED who decides the rates but the market; ultimately that is what always happens.


I'll give a source, any time macro economics is mentioned people defer to the genius of government because its seemingly above the station of any person to discuss the immense gravitas of generational effects.   Im no phd but also its not impossible to decipher imo:   https://youtu.be/4hQ1HvwaeTk?t=151

[larry_vw_1955]

Don't you see that's what the government want? Worker against worker. Focus all your anger on some other person who is just slightly better off than you are.

i have a theory that alot of crime is committed because of people not being treated equal. want to eliminate crime? then start with treating all people equal and they won't have a reason to rob or steal from other people. or hurt them. that's the way the human nature is. i didn't invent it, the human nature and it's not my fault that is how people are hardwired but its the governments fault if they don't recognize that and do something about it.

Never mind the multinational corporations evading billions in tax, never mind the banks laundering hundreds of billions, never mind the trillions wasted in our ridiculous healthcare or military budgets.

my solution to the military budget is to get rid of 3 of the armed forces and only have one. we really don't need all 4. for healthcare, i don't have a solution to that other than to outlaw insurance companies. but no president would have the balls to do that.

and about "multinational corporations evading billions in tax", what you do for that is outlaw multinational corporations in the usa. they can only employ people who live in the usa and cannot do business outside of the usa. and they pay taxes on all their income here in the usa. that would open up more jobs for americans as a side benefit.

i know these things seem impossible to do they are very serious problems as i know you agree so serious steps need to be done to solve them.

[philipma1957]

it will meander along til it collapses. The ultra rich will hide behind safe houses and survival caves. Then they will rebuild it all again.

Look the handwriting is pretty much on the wall. A huge fucking disaster worldwide by 2100 seems certain.

I am lucky to be 66 as I may simply age out and die thus miss the crash out.

BTW +0.50% looks like a mortal lock.

[cryptosize]

i have a theory that alot of crime is committed because of people not being treated equal. want to eliminate crime? then start with treating all people equal and they won't have a reason to rob or steal from other people. or hurt them. that's the way the human nature is. i didn't invent it, the human nature and it's not my fault that is how people are hardwired but its the governments fault if they don't recognize that and do something about it.

And how are you going to enforce equality? Communism tried this and failed. Maybe they'll try again.

Was Steve Jobs equal with the Foxconn worker who assembled iPhones?

A huge fucking disaster worldwide by 2100 seems certain.

2100 is too far away. Perhaps you meant 2030?

[cryptosize]

https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1713908790725107939

Roman Empire vibes anyone?

It seems History hasn't taught us enough yet... maybe it's time to repeat the same mistake.

[philipma1957]

https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1713908790725107939

Roman Empire vibes anyone?

It seems History hasn't taught us enough yet... maybe it's time to repeat the same mistake.

we are far past what it looks like. ie a few people make decisions and millions suffer.

[larry_vw_1955]

And how are you going to enforce equality?

well, if i was all powerful you mean? that would be easy. i would sieze everyone's bank accounts into one big bank account, require each living human being to get their iris scanned using worldcoin and then divide up that big bank account equally among all the real humans. i would also eliminate traditional real estate, demolish it all. then build identical living quarters for everyone. no one would have anything different from anyone else.

Communism tried this and failed. Maybe they'll try again.

doesn't mean we couldn't try again. 

Was Steve Jobs equal with the Foxconn worker who assembled iPhones?

right. and in my ideal situation if i was all powerful, you know that type of inequality would never exist. for better OR for worse...i'm sure some people would hate it but that's how it goes. i might even hate it but that's how it would go i guess.