News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: Why do we pay taxes if the Fed can just print money? by dragonwriter on Wednesday May 20, 2020 @08:08PM (#23253504)
> The Fed seems to have no issue printing money to prop up financial markets.

That's literally their job.

> What is stopping them from printing what we need to fund the entire government?

Inflation. Specifically, the fact that if they did so with no countervailing force the amount of money required to do so would increase rapidly in a positive feedback loop, collapsing the currency in the process.

Well, I mean, that's what stops the government generally from doing it.

What stops the Fed specifically from doing it is that they have a policy mandate and that isn't it.

Re:Ask HN: Why do we pay taxes if the Fed can just print money? by apta on Wednesday May 20, 2020 @08:12PM (#23253531)
It's quite absurd that the Fed is a separate entity from the government. Just shows how corrupt they are.
Re:Ask HN: Why do we pay taxes if the Fed can just print money? by dragonwriter on Wednesday May 20, 2020 @09:57PM (#23254132)
It's not separate from the government, but the government is more than just the Fed. Particularly, the Feds authority is delegated by Congress, so the reason the Fed doesn't do something may not be the same as the reason the government as a whole does not.
Re:Ask HN: Why do we pay taxes if the Fed can just print money? by nimblebill on Wednesday May 20, 2020 @08:29PM (#23253621)
What? The FED’s independence from the government (politicians) is exactly what keeps it from being corrupted, from being used as a partisan political weapon.
Re:Ask HN: Why do we pay taxes if the Fed can just print money? by dragonwriter on Wednesday May 20, 2020 @10:27PM (#23254263)
> The FED’s independence from the government (politicians)

...does not exist. The Fed is a government entity whose policy-setting body (the Board of Governors) consists entirely of Presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate, and who can be removed by the President (at least “for cause” based on a collateral reference, and possibly without cause though that's murkier, though no explicit boundaries exist on the qualifying causes.).

It is “independent” within the government (has it's own policy-setting body which exercises directly-delegated powers, and whose members have terms not tied to Presidential terms and at least arguably cannot be removed by the President without cause), not independent from the government.

Re:Ask HN: Why do we pay taxes if the Fed can just print money? by apta on Wednesday May 20, 2020 @09:27PM (#23253978)
And the Fed is making money by lending money with interest to the government. Easy, immoral money.