Base Money Gazefest: USA

 Here it is, feast your eyes: Who bought the trillions ... (Wolf Street)

And before I say anything else, here is the disclaimer: I am not affiliated with this Wolf Street site, they are not affiliated with me, I don't get any money from them, they don't get any money from me, etc, etc.

I happened to run into this site while reading other stuff about the Texas freeze, and "Who bought the trillions" was a piece of click-bait I couldn't resist. And it paid off. Behind the scandalous info hinted at the title, there is a nice breakdown of the USA National Debt.

And the USA National Debt, as almost nobody knows, is all the money created directly by the USA Government that is still outstanding. That is, if the USA, in its infinite providence, ever decided to create some dollars, and hasn't got around to destroy them, said dollars appear as "National Debt". USA's, of course.

I would like to say that "everybody knows" this fact, but the fact is that there are countless politicians ranting about "paying off the national debt", without ever mentioning that this simple deed would get the USA Government out of the business of creating USA Dollars. At least under their current system. Either almost nobody knows, or for some reason almost nobody is saying it, and that keeps most people from finding out.

Sure, Americans still could use Spanish Dollars, just like they did in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Or they could use Dollars issued by Google or Facebook, that seem to control more information than the USA Government anyway. Or Americans could outsource this wholly controversial business to companies in China or India. 

But back to the present reality. The twenty-some trillions dissected in this Wolf Street article are the "base money" used to anchor the potentially infinite stream of trillions created by the private sector in their rush to "grow the economy" and book more and ever bigger paper profits.

Just get yourself your very own million of "treasury bonds" (aka "treasuries") and you are all set. Not because each and every one of  your dreams can be purchased with one measly million, but because you can use this "base" million to create more millions.

If you are a bank, you can use your million as "reserves" to lend many more millions that you don't have. No broken laws there. Your loans are just as good as anybody else's loans. 

And if you are a "venture capital" enterprise, you can use your million as "collateral" to borrow many more millions from the banks. Millions that you don't have and they don't have either, but that you can use to buy company shares and even whole companies outright.

It's all like a dreamland inverted pyramid, with the "base money" as the tip supporting the ever expanding layers of bricks growing up towards  the sky. Money, money, and more money, as far as you can imagine.

So enjoy gazing and gawking at what you can actually see, courtesy of this "Wolf Street" article. I am sure they want you to see it. That's why they published this article. And don't forget to marvel at the towering mountain of money that you can not quite see, but is there, resting on this tiny twenty-some trillion "base money".

And final disclaimer: I do not and can not vouch for the truth and accuracy of the numbers or anything else in this "Who bought" article. I don't have the resources or knowledge to do my own research and be a competent judge.

But the whole thing sure caught my fancy. And it might also catch yours. Enjoy.