Money gets created in the USD economy all the time, whether by invented debt, cash printing, or the issuance of bonds. Does that money actually represent wealth? Does the USD economy actually contribute anything of value?

So let’s say you wanted to permanently remove value from the USD economy for some reason. What’s the most effective and impactful way to “burn money?” Not spend it. Not acquire it. Destroy it, with the goal of taking that value out of the economy.

Burning/ shredding physical cash seems really inefficient. Maybe the answer lies in devaluing real estate?

This is all hypothetical so assume whatever resources or labor you want.

  • talEnglish
    51·
    4 days ago

    Money gets created in the USD economy all the time, whether by invented debt, cash printing, or the issuance of bonds.

    The Federal Reserve targets about a 2% inflation rate:

    https://www.federalreserve.gov/economy-at-a-glance-inflation-pce.htm

    What is the Fed’s inflation target?

    The Federal Reserve seeks to achieve inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run as measured by the annual change in the price index for personal consumption expenditures (PCE).

    …but that’s not something unique to the dollar. Other countries will have central banks that will do the same thing.

    For the euro, this is the European Central Bank:

    https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/strategy/pricestab/html/index.en.html

    The ECB’s Governing Council, after concluding its strategy review in July 2021, considers that price stability is best maintained by aiming for 2% inflation over the medium term.

    For the British pound, the Bank of England:

    https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation

    We are responsible for keeping inflation (price rises) low and stable. The Government has set us a target of keeping inflation at 2%

    Just part of keeping a functional economy.

    So let’s say you wanted to permanently remove value from the USD economy for some reason.

    I think what you’re wanting to do is to decrease the money supply, which you wouldn’t normally call “removing value from the economy”.

    You don’t normally want to see deflation, as deflationary spirals create problems:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation

    A deflationary spiral is a situation where decreases in the price level lead to lower production, which in turn leads to lower wages and demand, which leads to further decreases in the price level.

    But the Federal Reserve can and does create deflationary pressure, reduces the rate of inflation:

    https://www.stlouisfed.org/in-plain-english/expansionary-and-contractionary-policy

    How Contractionary Monetary Policy Works

    Suppose that inflation has exceeded 2 percent for some time and the Fed recognizes that individuals are starting to expect high and rising inflation going forward. In this situation, the FOMC might decide to use contractionary monetary policy to bring actual and expected inflation back toward its target, to maintain price stability.

    To do this, the FOMC could raise its target range for the federal funds rate (FFR) and increase the administered rates—interest on reserve balances (IORB) rate, overnight reverse repurchase agreement (ON RRP) offering rate, and discount rate—accordingly.

      • talEnglish
        3·
        4 days ago

        Some of the things that you have in your post don’t make much sense to me, then, since you’re talking about the money supply in at least part of it: “Money gets created in the USD economy all the time, whether by invented debt, cash printing, or the issuance of bonds.”

        I’m not sure if it’s really coherent to aim to “destroy value” in the “USD economy”.

        If you want to reduce the size of the US GDP — though that’d be linked to the US, rather than the US dollar — you could reduce that by reducing economic activity. Like, say everyone in the US works four days instead of five, and then there’d be less economic activity, and that would cause the GDP to decline.