Good interview with Professor Barry Eichengreen of UC Berkeley, a good friend of GMM, and odds on favorite to be a Nobel laureate one day.   We agree with him that now is not the time to worry about the public debt as we are already down this rabbit hole and the economy is on the verge of complete implosion, risking plunging our society into anarchy without another rescue package.

We also hate what we see: large well-capitalized corporations and entities getting PPP loans, which will be forgiven, some dead beats using their PPP loans to buy Teslas, trade stocks, and gamble in Las Vegas, not to mention the lack of planning and total incompetence of the policymakers.    He quotes Voltaire’s famous exhortation,  used many times here at the Global Macro Monitor,  “do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

No MMT Discussion? 

Did you also notice not one peep about the Fed buying up all the Treasury debt and effectively monetizing the deficit…err MMT…and supporting other debt markets?

We heard some bozo on CNBC today saying the Treasury is having no problem floating its debt to the market.  Are. You. Fricking. Kidding. Me?  What market?

Nobody really knows for certain,  but our priors are if the U.S. Treasury was completely dependent on the markets to finance itself – that is no central bank (Fed and foreign) buying of its marketable debt — the 10-year yield would be well north of 6 percent, and that is very generous, in our opinion.

Do Your Homework

Folks, do your homework.   Granted, it’s impossible to completely grasp all the intricacies of the global economy and markets with their infinite feedback loops, and futile to even try,  but at least try and grasp the basics.

You can start by tuning out the talking heads and reading some Eichengreen, the most brilliant economic historian we have access to today.

Treasury Securities Held By The Federal Reserve

Federal Reserve Balance Sheet:  Total Assets

Is Dollar Demand Infinite? 

Good for gold and, if contained, and capital flows to the emerging markets in the short-term.