OK, we all know Helicopter Ben has been printing like a motherfucker. And we understand the results of his printing have gone directly into stocks, bonds and commodities.
But what is all that money really worth? And is he printing as fast now as he was when the shit hit the fan?
The charts in this series attempt to answer those questions, and the results as usual are surprising...
Here's the chart we all know and love. M2 was at $2.3 trillion in 1985. It's now at $10.2 trillion. That's a 338% increase over 27 years
Adjusted for general producer price inflation the value of M2 has increased a more modest 100% over the same period of time. And it appears to have stalled at that level
Adjusting for energy inflation we see that the value of M2 really hasn't gone anywhere over the past 25 years. Being a billionaire doesn't mean much if a gallon of gas costs a million dollars
To find out if Ben is printing as quickly now as he was four years ago you break down M2 on a year over year percent change basis. His money printing has not exceeded the 10% rate since he was sworn in. That must be a speed limit he has to obey
And finally no investigation of money printing in the overdeveloped Western world would be complete without looking at Europe. If our M2 growth rate is anemic, Europe's is straight up comatose. Don't they have helicopters over there?
