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Re:40% of US dollars in existence were printed in the last 1... by gus_massa on Sunday October 10, 2021 @11:00AM (#28818938)
Is this an 40% increase of the total number of "dollars" or just and 40% increase of the total number of "dollars in bills + coins"?

Most of the dollars are only a abstract entry in a database, not a piece of paper.

Increasing the total dollars (bills + coins + database + whatever [1]) would be very bad.

Increasing only the number physical tokens that people sometimes use to exchange abstract dollars is probably only a rounding error.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply

Re:40% of US dollars in existence were printed in the last 1... by throw0101a on Sunday October 10, 2021 @02:20PM (#28820719)
> Most of the dollars are only a abstract entry in a database, not a piece of paper.

More than that, the "dollars" created by the Fed are really reserve deposits which are given to financial institutions who have accounts with the Fed. Those reserves are only useable in the inter-bank system that the Fed runs and cannot enter the 'real' economy.

The "money" of the economy is created by private banks through loans out of thin air—no Fed required:

> In many market based systems such as the USA, the money supply is essentially privatized and controlled by private banks that compete to create loans which create deposits (money). Contrary to popular opinion, governments in such a system do not directly control the money supply nor do they create most of the money.

* https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1905625

Most transactions are done with digital transfers by crediting and debiting accounts. Once your loan is approved your account is credited and *poof* money that you can use is created.

Re:40% of US dollars in existence were printed in the last 1... by voisin on Sunday October 10, 2021 @11:40AM (#28819234)
Looks like total dollars (not just physical) to me given that FRED link above (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL)
Re:40% of US dollars in existence were printed in the last 1... by dogma1138 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @01:23PM (#28820172)
This describes bank money so it’s essentially everything you would normally describe as money not just physical currency.
Re:40% of US dollars in existence were printed in the last 1... by sleepysysadmin on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @08:22AM (#28838809)
>Most of the dollars are only a abstract entry in a database, not a piece of paper.

The abstract amount of increase was more than 400%. 40% is paper or real inflation locked in.