Why haven’t we seen hyperinflation?

This was originally a Youtube comment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNNUVEfoNmE)

The explanation on why we haven’t seen inflation yet is much simpler in my opinion. Money (fiat currency i.e. USD) has not lost value (USD losing value = inflation) because the demand for it has and is rising. The Fed can sort of see this and so they continue printing. And potentially, this may never cause inflation if the equilibrium I will explain below is maintained.

The question then is, why do normal people, investors, etc… demand money in such a huge way (that allows the Fed to make the printer go BRRRRR)?

Well, fiat currency is a government-backed asset, just like the usual debt they emit, that in most developed economies is currently under negative interest rates (which means that these government-backed assets are hugely valued and demanded). In other words, government-backed assets are hugely valued, being money a type of these assets it naturally is hugely valued.

But why are government-backed assets so demanded? There are two combined reasons for this. First, profits in the private sector are shit. Through regulations, taxes and government intervention in general markets have become more inefficient. Second, capital sees no investment opportunities and decides to hibernate. What assets are the most secure out there? Government-backed ones. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. If a business does badly, it becomes broke. If the State does bad, it taxes people. THIS IS WHERE THE POWER OF THE STATE COMES FROM. Of course this only works in rich countries in which there is wealth for the government to steal in the first place. A dynamic economy is needed to drain resources from it.

If you are still reading you probably don’t see the link between taxes, and backing the value of the dollar. The thing is to think of fiat currency as usual debt. Let’s imaging that people read this and start selling their USD for BTC or whatever. Demand decreases, the offer remains equal, value drops. What does the central bank (the Fed) do? They buy USD (taking it out of the market, hence reducing the offer of USD)(low demand, low offer = stable price). And how do they buy money? Have in mind, the Fed prints money and uses it to buy government debt, buy gold, and a few other assets. This is more or less the Fed’s balance sheet. So if they bought this stuff (more technically their assets) by issuing currency (liability), if they want to buy dollars, they sell their assets. That’s the connection, by selling government debt, two things can happen: the fed sells it in the market (you don’t really want to do it) or government pays it straight away. Since the government cannot print an inflationary currency, nor issue more debt, the only way to maintain the value of fiat currency is through taxation.

Here is where it gets interesting. Why doesn’t Venezuela do this, and the US does? As I said before, you need a wealth-creating economy to be able to tax it. Investors buy US debt because they are aware that the US will be able to pay it. This is equivalent to saying “Investors buy US debt because they are aware that the US citizens will pay it through taxes”. There is no free lunch here. What holds the system together is the fact that the State has the ability to rob people to pay the debt back. And this could go on forever as long as the US (or any other solvent State) makes sure that their debt is not higher than their ability to rob people (tax).

Final reflections. There is only one question left. Why does the government use fiat currency in this system, instead of issuing usual debt and let investors figure out that can pay it through taxing people? This will blow up your mind. The usual federal reserve banknote (cash) is a liability as we said before. And if it is a liability for the Fed, by definition, it has to be an asset for someone else. More specifically, its users. You and I. Now think about the example in the paragraphs above. For the government, debt is a liability, but for the fed, it is an asset. By buying US debt, the Fed is financing the US government. Now back to cash, by holding USD as an asset (as the fed holds US debt) YOU ARE FINANCING THE FED (as the Fed finances the US government). Returning to our question, why does the State use fiat instead of usual debt to finance its spending? TO MAKE THE POPULATION FINANCE IT WITHOUT THEM REALISING. That’s the trick. Getting millions to finance you in the shadow. What a perfect depiction of the true and sick nature of the State.

The king is now naked. Welcome to your world.