The feds have attempted to circumvent the natural cycle of low bond yields in good times and high bond yields in bad times by artificially keeping the interest low for over a decade. Lately, the government hasn’t even tried to sell bonds to raise money, they have just had the federal reserve print money.
Not quite true. The government has been buying T-Bills and pumping money into the stock market at an $85 Billion Dollar per month rate for over three years. The split is about $45 billion and $40 billion - I forget which is which.
This $85 billion isn’t actual printed money, it’s just electronic scrip. But they treat it like money and they buy their own T-Bills, which creates some semblance of value backing up our debt; it does not. It is nothing more than a grand scale equivalent of paying off one credit card with a new one that allows a large cash withdrawal.
The government is just printing the money, agreed. Does it count as a debt owed to the Federal Reserve, with interest? Who authorizes the printing of that money?