Central banks should be delegated the authority to issue deposit accounts and debit cards to all citizens, but apparently the world hasn’t ended enough for us to do that yet (which would make helicopter money super simple).
Remember that 'helicopter money' from central banks is not actually 'free money giveaway' it's just talked about like that.
When the Federal Government gives away money like this to citizens, it's more literally free money and it has to come from somewhere: either taxpayers or from debt.
When a government gives away money, it’s borrowed or taxpayer money. When a central bank does it, it devalues the currency (behold the value of a reserve currency!). Regardless of the hangover, you still do it if it’s necessary.
I digress; central banks can do whatever we need them to as a society. It’s their job to responsibly pull the macroeconomic levers to meet their mandates.
Not really, Central Banks are not part of the government and they can't do things outside the very narrow scope of authority we give them. Especially the Fed, which is a privately owned entity run by the banks themselves.
The Fed is the last place we want to manage social security programs. That job is for the government.
Now, it just so happens as you point out they have some magic levers such as the ability to take on stuff onto their balance sheet, but using that outside the scope of their policy is another thing altogether.
So yes, we can make 'money, financing and banking' do what we want, but if we do - it will absolutely not be 'The Central Bank' - it will be some other new kind of entity, designed differently, with different power structures and different objectives.
> It’s their job to responsibly pull the macroeconomic levers to meet their mandates.
> "central banks can do whatever we need them to as a society." <-- This is where we can modify their mandate at any time through legislation.
We really can't. To would so be a fundamental reconstruction of governance, tantamount to constitutional changes.
The central bank running current accounts for citizens and doling out money in a manner similar to how it tries to manage inflation using purchases on the free market etc. is so far beyond the premise of a 'Central Bank' that it's not a 'Central Bank'.
It makes the entity inherently politicized, as it becomes nary impossible to set 'targets' that aren't political.
So yes, we could dump the Central Bank and create a new entity that does 'Central Banking And Other Things' but there isn't even an intellectual framework for that, let alone some kind of reference anywhere in the world that could be used as a guide.
Putting the power of the printing press that close to 'giving out money' in a populist way is pretty scary anyhow and I wouldn't see the point in doing it at all.
If there are progressive social measures to be made, it might be for example related to how we structure what goes on the Feds balance sheet, and why, etc..
If we want to hand out UBI or something like that, it happens under government & the Treasury, not the central bank.
What value do banks add in this day and age? They arent loaning all the near free money the central bank is offering to sustain commerce, so my feeling they will be cut out at some point soon.
No, most good money is ownership of an asset, like possibly Gold, for example. For Euros, it's ownership of high-grade assets.
In the US, it's ownership of TBonds. Now, yes, TBonds are a form of debt, so there can't be a USD without the US making loans, but, the dollar itself is not debt, it's ownership of debt, which are different things.
Banks #1 job is managing risk. They do the work of determining who is credit worthy, on what terms and not, making the loans and taking on the risk.
That is what finance is.
So, what happens if a bank goes bankrupt?
They're just lying about being strict on TV to make everyone feel better about it. They don't have the capacity or political willpower to follow through. It's been months, it isn't urgent anymore, if they wanted to devise any sort of eligibility checks they would have done it already. But the only real eligibility requirement is being ballsy / desperate / yolo enough to claim it.
Some people like to complain about regular welfare programs being abused, but at least those have some controls, they're not just a web form with your bank details. Abuse rates will surely be much much higher for CERB, and that was largely preventable.
My wife works as a professional in the field. She says outright and obvious fraud is criminal code territory, and simple dishonesty (like what most amateurs do, just lying to a government official because they think they can get away with it this week and next week doesn't exist) just gets you a permanent denial of any future payments. That means you're cut off from welfare, for example.