The US is certainly the world's largest economy - but is it the healthiest? Today, just one chart says it all.
The Fed's balance sheet was a lean 6% of US GDP in 2008. Then the Credit Bubble collapsed and the Fed had to step in to avert a total meltdown of America's financial system and a repeat of the Great Depression. It bought Treasurys and other securities (mostly mortgage-backed bonds), fattening its balance sheet to 18% of GDP. But it wasn't enough. Though the immediate crisis had passed, the US economy wasn't really on solid footing, so the Fed kept pumping and buying assets up to 25% of GDP in 2015.
Eventually things settled down, the economy recovered and the Fed eased back to 18% of GDP at the end of 2019. Mind you, 18% was still huge by any historical monetary/fiscal fitness standards.
Then the pandemic struck and the Fed threw all caution to the wind - its balance sheet assets exploded and are now at an obese 35% of GDP (2Q21 data) - see below..
The Fed Goes El Gordo
What does this really mean?
The Fed's assets are bonds: Treasurys, corporates, mortgage backed (MBS) and municipals (bonds issued by local governments). Therefore, the chart shows that the US economy is currently financed to a very, very great extent by its central bank. And where does the central bank get the money to buy the bonds? Simple: it creates dollars entirely out of thin air, trusting (hoping?) that Americans and the rest of the world will continue to have faith in them. That's what I call faith-based financing - the American economy is now faith-based. "In God we trust", the motto printed on every dollar bill, now has literal meaning.
How healthy is the American economy? I don't know about you, but when I see an economy that floats on a rapidly rising sea of faith-based dollars, I worry about what will happen if this faith suddenly evaporates.
Let me put it in medical terms: a lean individual who eats right and exercises regularly has very few chances of getting a heart attack. But if he becomes a couch potato, puts on a lot of weight, eats burgers, fries and shakes every day, then he is a prime candidate for a sudden heart attack. And if he also believes/hopes that everything is fine, regardless... then he really has a death wish.
Interestingly, there is solid scientific evidence that such biological/social behaviour explains the rapid decline of empires (thanks to loyal reader AKOC for the link). Here is a quote from the article:
Most disturbingly, Dr Penman sees exactly the same process as taking place in our own age, but at a “far more accelerated rate” because of the West’s greater prosperity. The effects are already being seen in economic stagnation, a growing gap between rich and poor, and a collapsing birth-rate.
*link to Akoc's article has an error Hells.
ReplyDeleteThanks C. All fixed now.
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