What is 'Monetary Extremism?'

I was on France24 Friday talking about oil, the dollar, and gold.

part 2

Key to the rise in oil and gold prices is what I call 'monetary extremism.' In other words, in response to the so-called terrorists the Fed in Washington has embarked on its own jihad by expanding the money supply at 18% - one of the largest percent increases in history. The results are near catastrophic and about to get a lot worse. Also in this piece is a discussion of France's president Nicolas Sarkozy and his prescription for the current global economic problems.

The topic of the second half is the role central bankers play in the current inflation.

Host: Max, you blame Greenspan and Bernanke, don't you?

Me: Greenspan. Bernanke. They've done horrible damage to the economy. It's a shambles. You've got the housing market in freefall. You've got breadlines in the United States. You've got duress. People can't drive to work because the price of oil is too high. This is the direct result of monetary extremism. I would say he's a monetary extremist. Bernanke and Greenspan. They're right up there with the worst extemists anywhere on the planet. And they've done horrible damage.

Guest: Frogs will fall from the sky.

Host: Eventually. Maybe?

Later. The discussion turns to the trillions of dollars being held by Gulf and Asian nations and Sovereign Wealth Funds. The other guests suggest that the buying up of US assets with the excess US dollars (due to our overconsumption of oil and imports) is a good thing, it is just a mere 'velocity of capital' - you have to keep the capital moving.

I respond:

Me: That's an insane argument. You're selling the cow and now you're going to be buying the milk. How does it make sense for Americans to sell their infrastructure, sell their roads, sell their tunnels, sell their valuable assets to foreigners if they're going to be charged through the teeth and that money goes out to foreigners? It doesn't stay within the United States. It doesn't help the US dollar, it doesn't help the US consumer, it doesn't help the US citizen. You're saying that selling US sovereignty to foreigners is a good idea. Well, I'm not sure that Americans would agree with you.

Guest (a Bloomberg reporter): I'm not saying it's a good idea. And quite clearly even Obama has used the word 'cautious' when the word 'Sovereign Wealth Fund' has come up. But what you're seeing right now and I don't think there is doubt about this is that foreigners - both individuals and corporations - are starting to spend those dollars acquiring assets in the United States. Whether they are doing it personally, individually or through the Sovereign Wealth Funds which will go in and buy up positions in big investment banks.

Me: As Warren Buffett said, 'America is becoming a nation of sharecroppers.' And that's exactly where we are headed, indentured servitude.

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Comments

[joebhed]

Max,

Time for the end of that monetary "extremism", and its unprecedented economic chaos.

The old private money-creation cartel of the capitalist extremists know of no other purpose for money, except to make more money.
Faster.

Thus, the remark on velocity.

Please think about a return to monetary normalcy.
We need to remember that we fought the revolutionary war for the purpose of becoming a free, sovereign nation, against immoral economic and political pressures.
As a sovereign nation of free people, we could, and can today, create out of that sovereignty and freedom, ANY system of creating the nation's money that we choose, so as to promote our economic well-being.

Imagine that we had a money system with a purpose of keeping people IN THIS COUNTRY employed, and in keeping prices at non-inflationary levels.

I know that is supposed to be the FED's job, but after almost a hundred years of failure, their time is up.
We have the power to create the money system that is needed today.
It is time to regain that money-creating power, so that the American people can collectively act through their government to create a debt-free money supply in the future, by spending it into existence for the public purposes that are needed by the people.

Making more money, increasingly faster, at greater volume and velocity, is the end-game of today's corporate capitalism.
It's time for some free enterprise and economic democracy.
A revolution with a pen.

[Henry]

The secret that Republicans don't disclose: with free trade globalism, borders are moot. When there are no borders...there is no sovereignty and culture is extinguished. Try that on a "patriotic" republican.

[americaforme]

Indentured Servitude,what a ring that has. When the Banks were passing out get rich quick scheems,via fraudulent sub prime credit, marketing it in packages, that investors could not resist. While the White House says, help our economy spend, spend, spend. It's so damn sad that words cant describe it. We were sheep without a shepard, and it appears that we are still grappling with the same demise. Our Hero, the conqueror Obama, was leading us on, another sad turn of events. Obama wants the whole world at his feet, he likens himself to JFK, give us a break! Power Corrupts. Even if he changes course, back to the we the people, I'll find it hard to trust him.

[Henry]

There are, however, words to describe this: Pappy called it "voo-doo" economics!! You preach conservative economics while spending debt-issued "money" like a drunken sailor. This is the home base of Republicans.
And time will tell, but I do not think Obama wants the whole world at his feet.

[WorkingClass]

"Me: As Warren Buffett said, 'America is becoming a nation of sharecroppers.' And that's exactly where we are headed, indentured servitude".

You and Warren Buffett are 100% correct! Thanks for coming on the Huffington Post and telling it like it is.

[jjwalker]

Very few have the courage, like Max did on France 24, of telling it like it is.