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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump told Gary Cohn to 'print money' to lower the national debt, according to Bob Woodward's book
As a candidate, Donald Trump pledged to balance the federal budget and lower the national debt, promises that are proving difficult to keep.
Once he won, Trump considered an unusual approach that was quickly slapped down by his chief economic advisor, according to veteran journalist Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," which went on sale Tuesday.
"Just run the presses print money," Trump said, according to Woodward, during a discussion on the national debt with Gary Cohn, former director of the White House National Economic Council.
"You don't get to do it that way," Cohn said, according to Woodward. "We have huge deficits and they matter. The government doesn't keep a balance sheet like that."
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/11/trump-once-considered-just-printing-money-to-lower-the-national-debt-woodward-reports.html
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Bloomberg interview after he bailed on Trump.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Trump's bigger problem is that he thinks the national debt being "lower" is in some intrinsic way a good thing, which shows he has no idea how the bond market works.
Response to Takket (Original post)
Doodley This message was self-deleted by its author.
BeyondGeography
(39,370 posts)Baby doesnt like to be told no.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)riverine
(516 posts)1- Trump can place his lackeys on the Fed but has failed to so far
2- for arcane reasons the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (part of the US Treasury Dept) technically prints the money but only with the authorization of the Fed
A HERETIC I AM
(24,367 posts)They serve different functions.
The Treasury is responsible, among other things, for issuing debt securities and those bonds are sold to cover deficit spending.
According to their own website, The Federal Reserve is responsible for;
Supervising and regulating banks and other important financial institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nation's banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers.
Maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets.
Providing certain financial services to the U.S. government, U.S. financial institutions, and foreign official institutions, and playing a major role in operating and overseeing the nation's payments systems.
Lots of people like to say that the Fed "Creates money out of thin air". To the extent they provide credit, that is somewhat true, albeit a clumsy and pedestrian understanding. What is never mentioned is that they also destroy money (credit) INTO thin air as well.
So your statement "The Federal Reserve can "print money" is false. No, it can't. Not even a little bit.
riverine
(516 posts)the 'ex nihilo' creation of money creation of money - which only the Fed can do as a function of a central bank. The Fed created/printed over $4 trillion to buy Treasuries during the QE cycle of the last recession. Many of the people who use this term are hard money crazies on the right but recently MMT loons on the left want to "print money" for social spending. Both of those philosophies collide with classical liberal economics.
As I mentioned, the actual printing is done by the BEP but that is not the subject. The actual subject is 'where does money come from?'
So obviously you know about FOMC actions to contain inflation. How do you not know about the colloquial expression "print money"?
Now, if you're just being pedantic about the term "print money" then this has been a waste of time. Yes, the BEP does that as I originally said.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,367 posts)Voltaire2
(13,023 posts)any more than the neolib/neocon establishment, they just insist that the goal of all this debt we are creating ought to benefit the people in general instead of a small group of incredibly wealthy people.
Specifically our leaders have had no problem at all spending trillions on war, but faint at the thought of funding social programs.
tanyev
(42,552 posts)*not intended to be an actual quote
D_Master81
(1,822 posts)Seriously, you learn in high school econ that if money just keeps getting printed inflation gets out of control. Congrats Donald, the national debt is gone but it costs $57 for a loaf of bread.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)God help us.
Cosmocat
(14,564 posts)HE isn't the problem
1/3 of the country being brain dead pods who would run cheese graters over their genitalia if Rush Limbaugh told them to GLEEFULLY embracing whatever lunacy their GOP orders them to AND roughly 1/3 of the country in a haze of "both siderism" that enables the right to push this country into one republican rat hole after another.
keithbvadu2
(36,786 posts)lpbk2713
(42,757 posts)I can't be out of money. I still have more checks.
Trump is about this bright.
jmowreader
(50,557 posts)If a Democrat was president and proposed expanding the money supply in order to lower the national debt (which is what Trump really meant by "print money" ), Trump would be on his phone in a second tweeting that the president was incompetent at best and traitorous at worst for doing this. He would suggest impeachment first, then trial and imprisonment, and possibly execution, deportation, keelhauling or some other brutal penalty.
But Trump gets into office and wants the numbers to look better than they are? "Start printing money."
In the dictionary next to the word "hypocrite" is a picture of Trump.
Flaleftist
(3,473 posts)Vinca
(50,269 posts)Tariffs DON'T go directly into the treasury.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,181 posts)But even I know what an absolute disaster that would be.
Thats basic high school learning right there. You cant just print your way out of debt.