Friday, November 12, 2010

Euphemisms for "printing money"

The world is not overall better off when someone just "makes money out of thin air".  Nobody thinks that if a counterfeiter prints money the world is better off.  When money is printed some people become better off and some become worse off.  Let's call the people who become worse off "suckers".  The more people who do not understand what is going on the easier it is to have a good supply of suckers.   So the powers that be often try to keep people confused.  One way is talking about "making new money" using lots of different and confusing terms.   To try to help clear things up I am collecting euphemisms for "printing money".  I also have a video with these euphemisms. Here is my collection so far.
  1. accommodative monetary policy 
  2. achieving price stability 
  3. acting to the detriment of creditors
  4. adding to bank reserves
  5. adding liquidity
  6. aggressive monetary policy
  7. acquiring Treasury securities on the open market and only on a temporary basis 
  8. ample liquidity
  9. ample reserve regime 
  10. ample supply of reserves 
  11. asset price inflation
  12. asset purchase plan 
  13. asset swap
  14. bailouts (*) 
  15. banana republic
  16. Bernanke's toolkit 
  17. bond-buying by the U.S. central bank 
  18. central bank financing of government deficits
  19. cheapen the currency 
  20. collecting an inflation tax
  21. conjuring money up from the ether with black magic Fed spells
  22. creating inflation 
  23. creating money 
  24. creating money electronically
  25. creating excess reserves 
  26. creating reserves ‘ex nihilo’ 
  27. crediting bank reserve accounts
  28. CTRL+P
  29. currency intervention 
  30. currency manipulation 
  31. dangerous experiments with our currency  
  32. default by stealth
  33. deficit accommodating
  34. deficits don't matter
  35. deficit spending *
  36. dovish monetary policy 
  37. debasing the currency
  38. debasement
  39. destroying the value of the dollar
  40. devaluing the currency 
  41. disbursing currency
  42. dollar conjuring  
  43. driving the dollar down 
  44. dump more dollars onto the market
  45. easing credit 
  46. easing credit conditions
  47. easing monetary policy
  48. easy monetary policy
  49. easy money
  50. ensuring sufficient liquidity
  51. expansionary monetary policy
  52. expanding high powered money
  53. expanding liquidity
  54. expanding the Fed's balance sheet
  55. expanding the global supply of dollars
  56. Fed balance sheet growth 
  57. Fed purchasing debt
  58. Fed’s purchase program
  59. fighting deflation 
  60. free money
  61. fully sovereign in its own currency
  62. funding the deficit
  63. government thievery
  64. helicopter drop 
  65. helping exports with cheaper dollars 
  66. imagineering money
  67. imposing an inflation tax
  68. increasing the money supply
  69. inflating away the debt
  70. inflation
  71. inflation targeting
  72. implementing alternative monetary policy
  73. increasing the monetary base 
  74. injecting money into the economy 
  75. issuing fiat currency 
  76. issuing reserves
  77. just monetary policy  (Bernanke)
  78. keep the short-term interest rate at exceptionally low levels
  79. Keynesian economics
  80. liquidity enhancement  
  81. liquidity injection 
  82. liquidity management operations
  83. liquidity operations
  84. loose monetary policy
  85. lowering interest rates 
  86. low-rate monetary policy 
  87. LTRO -  long term refinancing operation
  88. making money
  89. marvelous monetary sweetener
  90. modern monetary theory (MMT) 
  91. MMT like policy
  92. monetizing the debt
  93. monetization
  94. monetary diarrhea
  95. monetary expansion 
  96. monetary policy 
  97. monetary policy tools 
  98. money out of thin air
  99. money rains
  100. mortgage security purchase program 
  101. no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society
  102. nontraditional policies 
  103. not monetizing the debt 
  104. not printing money
  105. open market operations
  106. organic balance sheet growth 
  107. outright monetary transactions (OMT)
  108. papering over problems 
  109. playing god with the economy
  110. plucking money from a money tree
  111. policy of dollar depreciation 
  112. preventing the currency from strengthening
  113. printing money 
  114. promiscuous easing
  115. promoting price stability
  116. providing additional accommodation
  117. providing liquidity
  118. pump-priming 
  119. pumping money into the banking system 
  120. purchases to maintain ample reserve balances
  121. pushing inflation upward 
  122. pushing up inflation to levels consistent with our mandate (Bernanke) 
  123. qualitative and quantitative easing
  124. quantitative easing
  125. quantitative counterfeiting
  126. QE
  127. QE1
  128. QE2
  129. QE3
  130. QE Infinity
  131. QE to infinity and beyond 
  132. QE Tapering
  133. recipe for financial disaster 
  134. reserve management 
  135. reserve management operation
  136. reserve management purchases 
  137. retiring Treasuries
  138. ruinous monetary insanity
  139. run the printing presses
  140. seigniorage
  141. short term treasury securities purchases 
  142. solution to the credit crunch 
  143. sowing the seeds of future inflation
  144. spending without borrowing
  145. stemming disinflationary pressures
  146. stimulus (*) 
  147. supplying banks with extra cash 
  148. supporting the economic recovery
  149. surreptitious transfer of wealth 
  150. the punch bowl
  151. the US can always meet its financial obligations that are denominated in US dollars
  152. throwing money out of helicopters
  153. treasury securities purchases 
  154. trick people into working for lower real wages - See page 9 of  Keynes "The General Theory"
  155. unconventional policy tools 
  156. unconventional monetary policy
  157. unsterilized intervention
  158. weakening the dollar
  159. Not QE
  160. Nothing like QE 
  161. QE4Ever 
  162. In no sense is this QE 
  163. Not-QE4
  164. MP1 - Monetary Policy 1
  165. MP2 - Monetary Policy 2
  166. MP3 - Monetary Policy 3
If you know other euphemisms for "printing money"  please post them them in the comments.

Some people try to make a big deal out of the fact that often money is represented on computers and not actually printed.  First, the Fed would print paper money if banks wanted delivery from their account.    From Bernanke's helicopter paper we know he understands this equivalence from his comment, "But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost."  Also, from Bernanke's fantastic video we can see the electronic and paper money are essentially the same. 

A few of the above terms can also theoretically be used when reducing the money supply but that hardly ever happens.

The point of a euphemism is to make something not sound as bad as it really is.   Most of these are trying to hid the badness of "printing money".  However, some like "monetary diarrhea" are clearly used by people who are not happy with money printing. 

This reminds me of the idea that Eskimos who spend a lot of time on snow would have a lot of words for snow.  Seems like Americans spend a lot of time printing new money.

(*) In the case of the starred terms the government is deficit spending, which will lead to more money printing, but it is arguably not a true euphemism for "printing money".

37 comments:

  1. Bailouts and stimulus are usually counted as "fiscal policy" but since these will clearly lead to more money printing I have added them with a (*) and explanation.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. open market operations
    adding liquidity
    currency intervention
    dovish monetary policy

    The list goes on and on. I could do this all day.

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  3. my all time favorite...drum roll..

    liquidity enhancement

    ReplyDelete
  4. POMO
    debt securitization
    inflation targeting

    Liquidity enhancement is still my all time favorite.

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  5. targeting asset prices

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  6. asset purchases
    money rains
    monetary policy tools
    Bernanke's toolkit

    homebuyer tax credit * ?
    cash for clunkers * ?

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks folks! We are at 45 after less than 12 hours. Keep them coming!

    ReplyDelete
  8. monetary policy beyond the zero bound
    creating excess reserves

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  9. unsterilized intervention

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  10. increasing the monetary base
    implementing alternative monetary policy
    disbursing currency
    distributing new wealth

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  11. funding the deficit

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  12. easing monetary policy
    easy monetary policy
    expansionary monetary policy
    expanding liquidity
    providing liquidity
    easing credit conditions (perhaps more of an intended effect)

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  13. fighting deflation

    oh, this is my favorite right up there with liquidity enhancement

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  14. unconventional policy tools

    Higgie

    I'm finally starting to run a little thin on ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  15. achieving price stability

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  16. promoting price stability
    providing additional accommodation

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  17. stemming disinflationary pressures

    Higgie

    ReplyDelete
  18. how about "bending over my saved dollar"

    ReplyDelete
  19. how about just "cheating"

    ReplyDelete
  20. After 6 days we have 83! I think we will be past 100 soon.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I think "monetary diarrhea" is my new favorite!

    ReplyDelete
  22. You forgot plain old:

    deficit spending *

    You suggest it in the footnote, but it really should be right there in the list directly (starred of course)

    Also -- in your footnote you're missing an "r" in the word "starred"

    (my favorites: "fighting deflation" and "liquidity enhancement")

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks much for both of those. Fixed them.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wow! Impressive. Thanks Vince.

    CreditCrumbs

    ReplyDelete
  25. You have a duplicate -- "helicopter drop" and "throwing money out of helicopters"

    ReplyDelete
  26. "The world is not overall better off when someone just "makes money out of thin air". Nobody thinks that if a counterfeiter prints money the world is better off."

    These two sentences are where you go wrong!

    Actually, sometimes the world IS better off when a counterfeiter prints money!

    Money is the "lubricant" of the economy. When there isn't enough in circulation among ordinary people, productive activity grinds to a halt. Printing money and getting it into the hands of the lower and middle classes alleviates this problem and gets everyone back to work. *It doesn't matter whether counterfeiters do it or whether the government does*. There is strong evidence that in Victorian England, there were periods where over 20% of the money was counterfeit, and it seems to have actually helped the economy (because monetary policy from the Bank of England was way too tight). Counterfeiters were supplying something the economy needed.

    So, yeah, lots of euphemisms for printing money. But printing money, while sometimes bad, is sometimes an unequivocally good thing. Take for the extreme example a society with NO money, a barter society. You print the money, you help the society.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Um, one further, crucial note to what I just wrote about how valuable printing of money is:

    It matters who you give the printed money to. It matters a lot.

    It only helps if it's going to people who are "cash flow constrained", who can't get people to trade with them because of lack of money.

    It doesn't help at all if the printed money is going to banks, who can actually print money on their own just as effectively as the government (start thinking about how they operate and what a "check" really is -- it's money -- you'll figure it out).

    ReplyDelete
  28. The Fed is not printing money and giving it to the lower and middle class people, they give it to the banks. Can we agree that what they really do does not help then?

    ReplyDelete
  29. I added "CTRL+P" which people have started using. I like it.
    http://www.zerohedge.com/search/apachesolr_search/CTRL%252BP

    ReplyDelete
  30. I think "QE to infinity and beyond" may be my current favorite. It seems funny that Mish, a deflationist, has said this one.

    We are now up to 132!

    ReplyDelete
  31. DEFAULT BY STEALTH

    Tell it like it is.

    ReplyDelete

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