Author Topic: Report: It’s YOUR Fault: Fed Says Americans Who “Hoard Money” Are To Blame For Poor Economy  (Read 4286 times)

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Report: It’s YOUR Fault: Fed Says Americans Who “Hoard Money” Are To Blame For Poor Economy

Posted By Mac Slavo On September 7, 2014 @ 9:30 pm In Economy and Finance,Editor's Choice,Featured | No Comments


hoarding-money [1]

Despite arguments to the contrary from the Obama administration, mounting evidence suggests that the U.S. economy is rapidly falling [2] back into negative growth territory. More Americans are out of the workforce than ever before, median household incomes are at levels not seen since 1967 [3], and consumer spending is coming to a veritable standstill. The crisis is apparently so significant that a Federal Reserve governor recently said U.S. policymakers are crafting regulations that will force bank depositors to cover any losses [4] should their financial institutions fail.

The question that many are asking is, how did this happen? How, after six years of recovery efforts and trillions of dollars printed, is it possible that the economy is not booming again?

This week the Federal Reserve published a report that claims to have figured it out and it turns out that the renewed economic downturn has nothing to do with foreign outsourcing, high taxation, increased health care costs for business or rising consumer prices for food and energy.

No, according to the Fed it is your fault. Apparently, you are not spending enough money. In order for the economy to recover you need to stop hoarding cash now and get out there and start buying more homes, cars, vacations, and electronics. Otherwise, you’ll only have yourself to blame when the system comes unhinged.

From the St. Louis Federal Reserve [5]:


The issue has to do with the velocity of money, which has never been constant, as can be seen in the figure below . If for some reason the money velocity declines rapidly during an expansionary monetary policy period, it can offset the increase in money supply and even lead to deflation instead of inflation.



During the first and second quarters of 2014, the velocity of the monetary base2 was at 4.4, its slowest pace on record. This means that every dollar in the monetary base was spent only 4.4 times in the economy during the past year, down from 17.2 just prior to the recession. This implies that the unprecedented monetary base increase driven by the Fed’s large money injections through its large-scale asset purchase programs has failed to cause at least a one-for-one proportional increase in nominal GDP. Thus, it is precisely the sharp decline in velocity that has offset the sharp increase in money supply, leading to the almost no change in nominal GDP



So why did the monetary base increase not cause a proportionate increase in either the general price level or GDP?

The answer lies in the private sector’s dramatic increase in their willingness to hoard money instead of spend it. Such an unprecedented increase in money demand has slowed down the velocity of money

Top tier economists, it seems, are unable grasp why consumers have decided to hoard – in other words, save – their money even though the central bank is engaged in an unprecedented monetary expansion.

The answer is simple, really, and you don’t need to look at detailed government charts and statistics to figure it out.

American consumers have been absolutely pummeled over the last decade.

We are losing so many jobs that newly created minimum wage jobs touted by the Obama administration aren’t even making a dent.

Moreover, the price of food, electricity, gas and other essentials have risen so sharply that we’re paying nearly double for those items today than we did a decade ago.

And, as recently noted by The Economic Collapse Blog [6], over 77 million Americans currently have debt collection accounts and 25% of Americans have absolutely no emergency cash whatsoever.

It’s not so much that Americans are “hoarding” money, a phrase that suggests greedy people all over the country are stacking piles of cash under their mattresses. It’s that most Americans don’t have any money left to spend.

The Daily Bell [7] says that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government are now creating a new narrative to be spewed by their mainstream media propaganda arms, wherein the blame for this will fall squarely on the American people:


Sometimes Federal Reserve white papers attract attention and this one does because of the term “hoarding money.” This is a startling phrase and – who knows – perhaps it marks the beginning of a new meme.

Certainly the word “hoarding” is a popular one with government officials. When governments are uncomfortable with the actions of citizens for whatever reason, the term “hoarding” is often applied to stigmatize certain behaviors and encourage others.

This isn’t the first time government officials and their quasi-government counterparts have targeted “hoarders” as evil doers. They have done it before and the evidence suggests they are going to do it again as soon as the right crisis takes hold.

In 2012 President Obama signed a an Executive Doomsday Order [8] that was designed specifically to target “hoarders” during a national emergency:


While millions of people have been preparing [9] for the possibility of a catastrophic event by relocating to rural homesteads or farms, as well as stockpiling food, water, personal defense armaments and other essential supplies, with the intention of utilizing these preparations if the worst happens, the latest executive order signed by President Obama on March 16, 2012 makes clear that in the event of a nationally deemed emergency all of these resources will fall under the authority of the United States government.

The signing of the National Defense Resources Preparedness executive order [10] grants the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, the Department of Defense and other agencies complete control of all US resources, including the ability to seize, confiscate or re-delegate resources, materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense as delegated by the following agencies

But what is hoarding? According to David Spero of Code Green Prep [11], it’s whatever they say it is. Right now, tens of millions of Americans are unable to put food on the table or pay their most basic expenses, yet the Federal Reserve claims that we’re hoarding money. In an emergency, they’ll make similar claims.


Hoarding of Just About Anything Can Be Banned





These definitions are written in to the 1950 War and National Defense (sic) Production Act, and so let’s see what the act itself has to say for itself.


Go directly to section 2072 [12].  That’s the key part from our perspective.


§2072. Hoarding of designated scarce materials

In order to prevent hoarding, no person shall accumulate (1) in excess of the reasonable demands of business, personal, or home consumption, or (2) for the purpose of resale at prices in excess of prevailing market prices, materials which have been designated by the President scarce materials or materials the supply of which would be threatened by such accumulation. The President shall order published in the Federal Register, and in such other manner as he may deem appropriate, every designation of materials the accumulation of which is unlawful and any withdrawal of such designation.

So the President can simply say that anything more than (for example) a week’s supply of food (and all the other things listed) is an amount ‘in excess of the reasonable demands of personal consumption’ and then order the Army to impound everything you have in excess of that amount.


Now, as we face a crisis in America on a scale never before seen, the government is attempting to change the story. In the end, when the worst of it hits and people start rioting in the streets because they can’t afford food or shelter, they’ll turn the blame on the “hoarders” who have selfishly saved cash and precious metals, stored long-term foods for an emergency, and prepared to deal with [13] the very situation the politicians, central bankers and business elite have created.


Once the meme is pushed in earnest across the media networks, it will only be a matter of time before the crowds turn their attention to those greedy hoarders who ’caused this crisis in the first place.’


Those who hoard resources illegally will have their supplies seized and will likely be detained for actions akin to terrorism, while those who see something and say something will be rewarded with a cut of the booty.


This may sound outlandish, until you consider that this is how all tyrants and authoritarian governments have operated since the beginning of human civilization.


Hoarders beware. They’ll be coming for you.

Please Spread The Word And Share This Post

Delivered by The Daily Sheeple [14]


Contributed by Mac Slavo of www.SHTFplan.com [15].

When it hits the fan, don’t say we didn’t warn you. Mac Slavo is the editor of SHTFplan.com [15], a resource hub for alternative news, contrarian commentary and strategies that you can take to protect yourself from the coming global paradigm shift.


Article printed from The Daily Sheeple: http://www.thedailysheeple.com

URL to article: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/report-its-your-fault-fed-says-americans-who-hoard-money-are-to-blame-for-poor-economy_092014

URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/report-its-your-fault-fed-says-americans-who-hoard-money-are-to-blame-for-poor-economy_092014/hoarding-money

[2] rapidly falling: http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/economist-this-is-far-from-over-they-know-there-is-a-problem-coming_09032014

[3] not seen since 1967: http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/the-recession-is-coming-economist-warns-its-beyond-control-i-dont-see-what-will-save-it-at-this-point_05222014

[4] bank depositors to cover any losses: http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/fed-vice-chairman-warns-your-bank-may-seize-your-money-to-recapitalize-itself_08272014

[5] St. Louis Federal Reserve: http://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/what-does-money-velocity-tell-us-about-low-inflation-in-the-u-s/

[6] The Economic Collapse Blog: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/21-ways-to-end-the-phrase-americans-are-so-broke_072014

[7] The Daily Bell: http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/35616/Hoarding-Money-A-New-Meme/

[8] Executive Doomsday Order: http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/executive-doomsday-order-obama-authorizes-gov-to-seize-farms-food-processing-plants-energy-resources-transportation-skilled-laborers-during-national-emergency_03182012

[9] millions of people have been preparing: http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-preparedness/doomsday-report-three-million-preppers-in-america-are-getting-for-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it_02112012

[10] National Defense Resources Preparedness executive order: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness

[11] Code Green Prep: http://codegreenprep.com/2013/06/preppers-beware-our-hoarding-can-be-deemed-illegal/

[12] section 2072: http://law.justia.com/codes/us/2010/title50/app/defensepr/sec2072/

[13] prepared to deal with: http://amzn.to/TwaloQ

[14] The Daily Sheeple: http://www.TheDailySheeple.com/

[15] www.SHTFplan.com: http://www.SHTFplan.com



Offline Relic

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See: Jimmy Carter, malaise.

Offline GourmetDan

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When the banks start failing, it will be known as 'bail-in' as opposed to 'bail-out'.  Bail-in means that depositor cash (which is technically debt) is turned into marginally marketable bank shares.  Usually with a haircut.

It was tested in Cyprus and is official EU bank policy since the Spanish debt crisis.

It will likely make an appearance in the U.S. as well...


"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

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Offline MACVSOG68

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When the banks start failing, it will be known as 'bail-in' as opposed to 'bail-out'.  Bail-in means that depositor cash (which is technically debt) is turned into marginally marketable bank shares.  Usually with a haircut.

It was tested in Cyprus and is official EU bank policy since the Spanish debt crisis.

It will likely make an appearance in the U.S. as well...

Sounds like it's best to keep deposits below the guarantee threshold. 
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Offline GourmetDan

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Sounds like it's best to keep deposits below the guarantee threshold.

Depends on how much you trust the banks and the government...


"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

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Offline MACVSOG68

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Depends on how much you trust the banks and the government...

Don't trust the banks, but if the government fails, where do you go to buy milk and bread, and what do you use to pay for it?
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Offline alicewonders

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Don't trust the banks, but if the government fails, where do you go to buy milk and bread, and what do you use to pay for it?

My guess is that at that point, the government will step in and start distributing food and other necessities, because no one will have currency to buy them.  We all know where it goes from there. 

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Offline GourmetDan

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Don't trust the banks, but if the government fails, where do you go to buy milk and bread, and what do you use to pay for it?

If it gets that far, that's a different set of problems.

The point was that your reliance on the 'guarantee threshold' might not hold.

It's a long way from the guarantee threshold failing to an actual government failure, IMO...


"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

"The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve as an ineffective alternative to the Democrat Party." - GourmetDan

Oceander

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Don't trust the banks, but if the government fails, where do you go to buy milk and bread, and what do you use to pay for it?

It's not so much a matter of finding where to buy milk and bread as much as it is a question of what do you use to pay for it.  Absent some widely accepted medium of exchange, buying/selling drops back to barter.  Tobacco used to be, and still is in some places, one of the more stable currencies of exchange.

Offline MACVSOG68

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If it gets that far, that's a different set of problems.

The point was that your reliance on the 'guarantee threshold' might not hold.

It's a long way from the guarantee threshold failing to an actual government failure, IMO...

I'm not sure it's that far at all.  The FDIC is guaranteeing $5.4 trillion in deposits; and then there's the federal credit union deposit guarantees.  If that fails and the government can't pay the guarantees, what do most people do for money?
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Offline MACVSOG68

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It's not so much a matter of finding where to buy milk and bread as much as it is a question of what do you use to pay for it.  Absent some widely accepted medium of exchange, buying/selling drops back to barter.  Tobacco used to be, and still is in some places, one of the more stable currencies of exchange.

I have a neighbor who has a very large gun and ammo collection, as well as gold and silver.  He believes those will be the exchange mechanisms.  But the grocery stores have to have stock.  Where does it come from, and how do they make change?  The real nightmare scenario.
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Offline GourmetDan

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I'm not sure it's that far at all.

OK... so I think it's a long way from a guarantee threshold failure to a government failure and you don't...    :shrug:


« Last Edit: September 08, 2014, 03:44:07 pm by GourmetDan »
"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

"The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve as an ineffective alternative to the Democrat Party." - GourmetDan

Offline MACVSOG68

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OK... so I think it's a long way from a guarantee threshold failure to a government failure and you don't...    :shrug:

Of course you left out the reason why...
It's the Supreme Court nominations!

Offline GourmetDan

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Of course you left out the reason why...

Apparently congratulations are in order...

 :hands:


"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

"The sole purpose of the Republican Party is to serve as an ineffective alternative to the Democrat Party." - GourmetDan

Oceander

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I have a neighbor who has a very large gun and ammo collection, as well as gold and silver.  He believes those will be the exchange mechanisms.  But the grocery stores have to have stock.  Where does it come from, and how do they make change?  The real nightmare scenario.

I'll grant the issues of getting stock to market, although that can be a problem whether or not government fails - a natural disaster of sufficient size can result in empty shelves.  In smaller towns and villages that are more directly connected to farms and the like, the supply issue is likely to be less of a problem (ceteris paribus - i.e., so long as gangs of the starving from places like NYC don't arrive there first).

As far as media of exchange go, I'm not sure if guns, ammo, gold, or silver are likely to be that attractive to the local green-grocer - or the farmer with whom the grocer trades.  Gold or silver can become dangerous if word gets out that a merchant accepts those items as the "bad guys" are likely to assume that the merchant has a comparatively large supply and therefore will target his/her store and home.  Ammunition would also be problematic because of all the different calibers out there - if all you have are 22LRs, how do you make change for three .45s if the buyer doesn't have a 22LR at home?  Storing it can also become problematic.  Finally, the "bad guys" are likely to be attracted to what they view as a lightly guarded arsenal as they are to a merchant with gold and/or silver on site.

My better guess is that we would quickly - assuming that a new status quo developed at the barter level - go back to what we did for much of the early part of this country in rural areas:  negotiable IOUs.  A system like that relies primarily on personal trust, both between the exchangors, and within the local community, that the issuer of a given IOU will be good for it when called on it.  If a bartering economy became more developed, one might see "banks" after a fashion springing up that would in effect act as exchanges where one could "promise" or "pledge" one's goods and/or services (certain services can be fungible if backed by reliable paper), in exchange for private bank notes from that bank.  The notes could then be used as a medium of exchange within the local community.  At that point, gold and silver would probably start to come back into play, but they would quickly end up being assets used to back up a bank's private notes, they wouldn't be used directly for exchange.

Offline EC

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Don't forget, you can exchange goods for services, as well.
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Oceander

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Don't forget, you can exchange goods for services, as well.

Didn't forget it at all.  But accepting services as payment - particularly services to be performed in the future - requires a little higher degree of trust than accepting goods in kind.  That is where an "IOU" type economy might be useful; if I can pledge to provide a certain type of service, and get unit notes that I can then use to exchange my future services for goods today, then exchanging services for goods becomes more doable.

Offline EC

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I agree on a much higher level of trust being needed, but I do like the note system. It's a bit less cumbersome than direct swaps at the time.

In time, you'd even have denominations. Someone who can keep your car going (for a bad example) or who can be relied upon to come out day or night to tend to the sick is going to be worth "more" than someone who milks the cows. I can see it, in small communities bringing back the practice of shunning though, for constant trust breakers.
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Offline alicewonders

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I agree on a much higher level of trust being needed, but I do like the note system. It's a bit less cumbersome than direct swaps at the time.

In time, you'd even have denominations. Someone who can keep your car going (for a bad example) or who can be relied upon to come out day or night to tend to the sick is going to be worth "more" than someone who milks the cows. I can see it, in small communities bringing back the practice of shunning though, for constant trust breakers.
 

I have a friend that grew up in Alabama in the sixties.  His father was a doctor, and it was rather normal that he got paid in chicken and stuff from his patient's farms.  He did house calls too!
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Oceander

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I have a friend that grew up in Alabama in the sixties.  His father was a doctor, and it was rather normal that he got paid in chicken and stuff from his patient's farms.  He did house calls too!

That's the way it used to work in a lot of small towns (and small economies).  It's also the way things worked in rural communities, where farmers could go 11 months without getting paid for their crops:  until they got hard currency for their goods they needed some sort of way to pay for their daily expenses, and it was usually either barter or some sort of informal scrip or negotiable paper system.  That's actually part of what led to the Constitutional Convention:  small rural states often gave into the pressure from farmers and issued scrip money that, in the end, they usually tried to cram down the throats of out-of-state lenders, who had lent in hard currency (gold/silver) and expected to get paid back in same; the farmers' inability to do so often led to nasty farm foreclosures and auctions, with ensuing violence.

Oceander

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I agree on a much higher level of trust being needed, but I do like the note system. It's a bit less cumbersome than direct swaps at the time.

In time, you'd even have denominations. Someone who can keep your car going (for a bad example) or who can be relied upon to come out day or night to tend to the sick is going to be worth "more" than someone who milks the cows. I can see it, in small communities bringing back the practice of shunning though, for constant trust breakers.


That is, to a degree, how many small, isolated economies end up working.  Many of the colonial era economies in the rural states operated that way de facto since the farmers didn't get hard currency, if at all, until they sold their crops and since the local economies revolved around the farmers, the rest of the economy went without hard currency as well.

Offline MACVSOG68

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Apparently congratulations are in order...

 :hands:

Well...I hate to be modest...
It's the Supreme Court nominations!

Offline GourmetDan

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Well...I hate to be modest...

Yes... I know that...    :silly:


"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

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Offline MACVSOG68

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Good discussion Oceander, EC and Alice.  Was on jury duty yesterday and missed the real discussion on the thread.  I do find the concept of the IOU note interesting, but there would be some issues, namely what backs it up other than trust. California tried that and banks stopped taking them, and that was just a budget crisis, not a currency crisis. 

Not having access to currency is worse than just printing tons of currency, so that's what the government would have to do, even at the risk of hyperinflation.  We can once again talk about "not being worth a continental".  And obviously the government would have to keep the banks afloat to distribute the monopoly money.  The only real faith people have in our government is based on a viable system of currency IMHO.  The rest of what Uncle Sam does is still supported by money.

Interestingly, the dollar is continuing to strengthen against the Euro.  Is that less of a good sign for us or more of a bad sign for the EU?   :pondering: 
It's the Supreme Court nominations!

Offline alicewonders

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Good discussion Oceander, EC and Alice.  Was on jury duty yesterday and missed the real discussion on the thread.  I do find the concept of the IOU note interesting, but there would be some issues, namely what backs it up other than trust. California tried that and banks stopped taking them, and that was just a budget crisis, not a currency crisis. 

Not having access to currency is worse than just printing tons of currency, so that's what the government would have to do, even at the risk of hyperinflation.  We can once again talk about "not being worth a continental".  And obviously the government would have to keep the banks afloat to distribute the monopoly money.  The only real faith people have in our government is based on a viable system of currency IMHO.  The rest of what Uncle Sam does is still supported by money.

Interestingly, the dollar is continuing to strengthen against the Euro.  Is that less of a good sign for us or more of a bad sign for the EU?   :pondering:

It must be more of a bad sign for the EU, I see nothing here that is a good sign for us.

Don't tread on me.   8888madkitty

We told you Trump would win - bigly!