A Very interesting discussion on the next step in our governments floundering attempts to save a broken economy

Posted by $ nickursis 8 years, 2 months ago to Economics
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Or maybe having a bank account isn't a great idea anymore? Graham Summers runs Phoenix Capital and indicates he does a pretty good job of reading the market and projecting the next step. This is his take on what the Feds may do next..A tax on cash?
Today we’re discussing just the policies Central Banks are already working to implement to eviscerate savings.
Globally, over 50% of Government bonds currently yield 1% or less. These are bonds that are negative in real terms meaning they are trailing well below the rate of inflation.
Even more astounding is the fact that over $7 trillion in debt currently have negative yields in nominal terms, meaning the bond literally has a negative yield when it trades.
This means that when an investor buys these bonds, he or she pays the Government for the right to own. There is NO rate of return; by buying these bonds you are literally incinerating your capital. Large bond funds that are required to own certain types of bonds have no choice but to lose money.
However, this is just the start.
Back in 1999, the Fed published a paper suggesting the implementation of a “carry tax” or taxing actual physical cash using an expiration date if depositors aren’t willing to spend the money.
The paper, written 16 years ago, suggested that if the Fed were to find that zero interest rates didn’t induce economic growth, it could try one of three things:

1) Buy assets (QE)

2) Money transfers (literally HAND OUT money through various vehicles)

3) A carry tax (meaning tax the value of actual physical cash that is taken out of the system)
We've already seen six years of ZIRP and $3 trillion in QE. Next up are outright money transfers and a carry tax on physical cash.
What is a "carry tax"?
The idea here is that since it costs relatively little to store physical cash (the cost of buying a safe), the Fed should be permitted to “tax” physical cash to force cash holders to spend it (put it back into the banking system) or invest it.
The way this would work is that the cash would have some kind of magnetic strip that would record the date that it was withdrawn. Whenever the bill was finally deposited in a bank again, the receiving bank would use this data to deduct a certain percentage of the bill’s value as a “tax” for holding it.
For instance, if the rate was 5% per month and you took out a $100 bill for two months and then deposited it, the receiving bank would only register the bill as being worth $90.25 ($100 0.95=$95 or the first month, and then $95 0.95= $90.25 for the second month).
It sounds like absolute insanity, but I can assure you that Central Banks take these sorts of proposals very seriously. QE sounded completely insane back in 1999 and we’ve already seen three rounds of it amounting to over $3 trillion.
No one would have believed the Fed could get away with printing $3 trillion for QE in 1999, but it has happened already. And given that it has failed to boost consumer spending/ economic growth, I wouldn’t at all surprised to see the Fed float one of the other ideas in the coming months."

Apparently, there are consequences to the current and ongoing policy of looting for what they can, the cow is dry and the cupboard is bare. A negative interest rate of -1.5% is being discussed, which I have no idea how that would work. A Bernie would take us trillions more in debt. This just is not going to go well I fear..


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  • Posted by $ Abaco 8 years, 2 months ago
    They'll never do #2 in any real meaningful way. Sure, something like the Bush $300 tax refund (or whatever it was) for the shleps to go buy a little more Budweiser.

    I think they'll go to negative interest rates. One thing they flat-out WILL NOT do is lower taxes or reduce regulations on business. Those have been abandoned.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 2 months ago
      Isn't Bernies Free College and Free Healthcare the same thing? They just transfer the value of something through another vehicle, but it has the same effect. Imagine "free healthcare" (which is a contradiction in itself, we all know there can be no such thing, it should be called "someone else pays for your healthcare" or something). If you get it "free", then you now can spend that money on something else, providing some sort of stimulus to a sector of the economy. The problem is that any such connivance is just more meddling in an already broken system that cannot adapt to such weird rules, making their control over you that much stronger.
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      • Posted by $ Abaco 8 years, 2 months ago
        I was chuckling to myself the other day as I thought, "Hell, if Bernie can give my kids a free college education a major financial challenge of mine is solved!" Of course, that will never happen...And, if it's "free" it will suck - just like their current public education.
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        • Posted by $ 8 years, 2 months ago
          The price describes the value. Just like Public health systems. My daughter in law is from Germany, and her father had a stroke, took a week to see a doctor, and 2 weeks to get admitted. Free college will be do 6 online courses, file a fee and get a diploma, thank you. Want an MBA? Do 6 more online classes...quality is job 43453443.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 8 years, 2 months ago
    Naturally the banksters blame the innocent producers for not having enough assets for the banksters to steal.
    Repeal the federal reserve act.
    Destroy the banking cartel and re-open a free market in banking with no banker having the power to create and issue "legal tender."
    Let the looters die.
    None good will happen under Democrats or Republicans.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 2 months ago
      "None good will happen under Democrats or Republicans" should become like the 11th commandment or something. It is so plainly true, yet the sheeple (90% of the population), are so invested in it, they will not put any effort into finding any other political expression. The Federal Reserve is so welded to our economy,I don't see how we could ever dump it without a complete restructuring. Given that we can't seem to kill the cockroaches infesting the IRS, EPA and other organizations of control, I am leery of killing off that band of vermin either.
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