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Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by selectodude on Friday April 24, 2020 @10:37AM (#22968388)
The Bank of Japan’s balance sheet is at 110 percent of GDP.
Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by throwanem on Friday April 24, 2020 @11:28AM (#22969022)
I was about to make a joke that it looked like they could go about another 69.8%. Now I'm glad I waited.

What does that even signify, a federal bank owning >100% of its attached country's GDP? Debt in excess of produced value, i.e., the country being underwater?

Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by yeldarb on Friday April 24, 2020 @11:41AM (#22969172)
GDP is per year. Analogous to a person making $100k/yr with a $110k mortgage.

Edit: Although perhaps not that analogous because is this even technically "debt"?

Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by ashtonkem on Friday April 24, 2020 @11:44AM (#22969216)
The analogy has always been strained, since national debt just doesn’t work like personal debt.

Also, when you can borrow at sub-inflation rates, there’s rarely an incentive to stop.

Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by RobertoG on Friday April 24, 2020 @11:59AM (#22969436)
It's the Bank of Japan who decide the borrowing rates, so, not problem in that regard.
Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by eslaught on Friday April 24, 2020 @12:18PM (#22969723)
Ok, but they don't control inflation. At some point, I think it's obvious that printing money becomes counterproductive. But where exactly is that line?
Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by RobertoG on Friday April 24, 2020 @12:56PM (#22970273)
The Bank of Japan, can actually control inflation, because, as we have determined, they control the interest rate. Also, if necessary, the government could raise taxes and run a surplus to diminish inflationary pressures.

But those are moot points, because the problem of Japan for the last 20 years has been deflation, not inflation. Despise that, as you can see in the comments here, there are people that still predict inflation in the future.

Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by ashtonkem on Friday April 24, 2020 @12:34PM (#22969934)
They don’t control inflation. But all of the warnings about hyperinflation being “right around the corner” have remained hilariously false. So who knows?
Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by WanderPanda on Friday April 24, 2020 @05:44PM (#22973235)
They only control their inefficiency around an increasing trajectory
Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by RobertoG on Friday April 24, 2020 @11:54AM (#22969371)
It's not debt, it's only a number that reflect the accumulate of past government deficits.

A government is the issuer of the currency, so, nothing to do with the debt of a household or a business.

Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by isoskeles on Friday April 24, 2020 @12:14PM (#22969674)
What if we alter that analogy to a person who makes 100k/yr with a 110k mortgage, and next year they make 101k with a 115k mortgage, and next year they make 102k with a 120k mortgage, and so on?
Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by freeone3000 on Friday April 24, 2020 @12:31PM (#22969902)
Then I think we should rename it from "mortgage" to "student loans". As long as they keep making minimum payments, this is technically fine.
Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by isoskeles on Friday April 24, 2020 @08:03PM (#22974291)
Misses the point, but sure, "student loans" is a fair comparison. The name doesn't matter to me, it's all debt.

I don't see it as "technically" fine that the rate at which the debt grows consistently exceeds the rate at which the income grows. There comes a point in time in which the principal of the debt is large enough that minimum payments exceed income.

Re:Fed Prints Another $205B This Week, M2 Growing at Fastest... by erentz on Friday April 24, 2020 @12:58PM (#22970291)
The US government doesn’t make 100% of GDP. GDP is $21 trillion. US government takes in $3.46 trillion.