Fed: US consumers have decided to 'hoard money'

Yahoo Finance ^

[jy8z]

I guess “saving” is now known as “hoarding.”

I guess I've been a "hoard" my whole life.

Sigh.

[doc1019]

All off shore, right? LOL! The boat you are describing is getting more crowded by the day.

[jimpick]

I also am trading for as many things as I can. Screw the Government with their high taxes. I have my work schedule down to 24 twelve hour days a year. That is my minimum to maintain. More than that and I try to trade labor or items. I paid as much off in the early years of Bushes first term so that I don't have to work as much now. If those dem idiots had not screwed up my insurance my wife would not have to work. Can't get her covered with out going exchange. Which is total BS.

I will cut as much spending as I can possible do till we get some one competent in government. That means no Dems or RINO’s.

[Dogbert41]

Another little “factoid” came out recently: Most Americans would have to sell something or get a loan if they had to come up with $400.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/youre-better-off-than-the-average-american-if-you-can-come-up-with-this-much-cash/article/2551800

[kiryandil]

This second data point is the introduction of the concept that savers (and eventually, preppers) are 'hoarders' to be shamed and eventually raided.

Well, I happen to agree with this view.

For instance, the government is hoarding ammunition, armored vehicles and automatic weapons...

[varyouga]

Probably cash leaving the country or people buying cash equivalents (gold, jewelry, stones, ammo, supplies, etc).

Nobody in their right mind should “hoard” more than a few months worth of Obamabucks.

[upchuck]

From the article:

Though American consumers might dispute the notion that inflation has been low, the indicators the Fed follows show it to be running well below the target rate of 2 percent that would have to come before interest rates would get pushed higher.

The "indicators" the Fed follows... Must not be grocery prices. Must not be gasoline. Must not be automobiles. Must not be the cost of veterinary care.

For me, all of these, with the possible exception of gasoline, have exploded for me the last few years.

And, no, I don't "hoard" money. It has practically no value anymore.

I fear this country is headed for the Mother of all collapses. It ain't gonna be pretty and it ain't gonna be nice. As a result, I spend a considerable amount of money stocking up on things that will become valuable during a severe downturn. Like food and toilet paper for example. Best get yours while you can.

And remember, you can never have enough guns and ammo.

[Iron Munro]

This is sick and twisted logic.

Remember - if we don't borrow and spend, borrow and spend the evil-doers have won!

/s

[MeshugeMikey]

I really dont appreciate the medias use of the term CONSUMER.

We are Americans Always.....Consumers... occasionally.. and certainly not at those times were not consuming,,,,

[Red in Blue PA]

....or guns.

Picked up an FN five seven this past weekend.

[IMR 4350]

Same here. I spend money on what I need not what I want.

There’s a lot of things I want but they will have to wait until sanity returns to Washington.

[seowulf]

When they start talking about hoarding, you should be thinking about confiscation; especially when they start saying how unpatriotic it is.

[Right Brother]

Hey now, I’ve got about 32 cents in my pocket and almost 10 times that in the bank. It’s spread among 3 accounts, LOL.

Are those checking or hoarding accounts?

[arthurus]

The banks and financial institutions are “hoarding money” because it is safer for them to lend all the new Fed created dollars to the Fed at interest that the Fed lends to the banks at no interest.

[Irenic]

Well huh...
Even the Upper Middle Class Struggles to Save Money
By Allison Schrager August 12, 2014
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-12/only-45-percent-of-upper-middle-class-households-are-saving-money

[arthurus]

That is where Capital comes from.

[atomic_dog]

I don’t have any money. I spent it all on the ammo I am hoarding.

[usconservative]

The only ones hording money are the big banks.

Generally speaking, that statement while popular, isn't exactly true. I work for one of the "big banks" and I'll tell you exactly why big banks "aren't lending" and that's called THE BANKING REGULATORS. Over the course of the last 5-6 years now I've written extensively on this topic, I'm hoping this will be my last time. :-)

We have the regulators in our bank several times a year auditing our loan portfolio and capital reserves. Each time the damn' regulators come in and look at our loan portfolio and assess risk of default against that loan portfolio, each regulator comes up with a different result.

It's like the little government bastards have to find a way to justify their existence.

So regulator one comes in, assesses our loan portfolio and risk and says "everything's fine" ... so our capital reserve requirements don't change.

Some months later, regulator #2 comes in and does the same assessment, but finds different results. Magically, our risk of default within our loan portfolio goes up! That affects our capital reserves (the amount of money we must keep on hand to cover losses) and the amount we have to loan out.

Now, since January 2009 the regulators have continually re-interpreted and changed the rules affecting how each bank's loan portfolio's are examined and risk assessed.

Each time, the capital reserves we (and other banks too) are required to keep on hand has GONE UP. We have a regulatory/over-regulatory environment which has systematically REDUCED the amount of capital reserves in the banking system available for loans. That's been going on for 5 years.

Now, why are the Fed's increasing capital reserve requirements? First, they're trying to prevent another banking system failure resulting in bailouts (much of which WERE NOT NEEDED) and the second reason is to keep that money on the sidelines as much as possible as a back-door way to tamp down monetary inflation.

Remember: The Fed's been printing $80 billion a month for what, 5 years now, injecting that money into the economy. Absent "stealthy" mechanisms such as those I'm describing above from restricting the money supply, we'd have runaway inflation on everything, not just food, fuel and commodities.

Now, I'm not saying I agree a wit with the Fed's policies. In fact, I disagree as much as one person can disagree. What some major economists are now waking up to is that the bailouts and Fed buying bad assets should never have happened.

"Too big to fail" was a mistake and the reality is the Fed's actions have made "too big to fail" even worse. The problem is how does the Fed un-wind pumping $80 billion/month into the economy while keeping inflation in check?

Find alternative "stealthy" ways to restrict the money supply. That's how. The Government that created "too big to fail" created a situation where hyper-inflation would be a reality without their finding alternative "stealthy" ways to restrict access to that money via low-cost loans to businesses and consumers.

None of this "ends well" for our economy, eventually all the billions that the Fed pumped into the economy is going to have to be removed and that's when this country will feel real economic pain, likely making the great recession and the great depression look like a walk in the park.

Disclaimer: YES, I work for a big bank. NO I won't say who, other than to say we initially REFUSED TARP money until the Government stuck a gun to our heads and forced us to take it. The Federal Government and the Federal Reserve used "TARP" to hide the bad/failing banks from public view. If you want to know who the solid & straight-up players are in the banking industry, look at the top 10 bank that paid their TARP money back first.