Only depending on what definitions you use. If you're using terminology where an IOU from the government that pays the base interest rate counts as money if issued by the central bank (reserve account at the central bank), but an IOU from the government that pays the base interest rate doesn't count as money if issued by the treasury (securities account at the central bank), that's not very useful and is more likely to lead you astray. It would be like thinking that a checking account balance at your local bank is 'money', but then shifting it into a savings account at the same bank makes it suddenly 'not money'.Issuance of govt bonds and printing of money are two different things.It's mainly #2, because they print money in the form of more bonds.
Paper notes, coins, reserves, bills, bonds: all assets to us because they're liabilities of the issuer (government), evidence that we're owed some value (payable only in tax relief), all freely swappable for each other, depending on which form of money is desired (quarters more useful in an arcade, $100 bills not so useful for riding the bus, treasury securities more useful for large amounts of savings, overnight reverse repo account balances useful for institutions not eligible for interest on reserves, etc.). Anachronistically they still 'print' bonds instead of simply issuing reserves, which used to help limit the outstanding excess reserves, even though the reserves now pay interest and there's no gold standard to be concerned with.
Statistics: Posted by greedygus — Wed Oct 23, 2024 1:18 am — Replies 10 — Views 628