{"id":30497,"date":"2023-01-10T11:48:27","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T16:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=30497"},"modified":"2023-01-10T11:48:53","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T16:48:53","slug":"kevin-oleary-on-inflation-you-printed-7-trillion-in-30-months-what-did-you-think-would-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/kevin-oleary-on-inflation-you-printed-7-trillion-in-30-months-what-did-you-think-would-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin O\u2019Leary on Inflation: You Printed $7 Trillion in 30 Months. What Did you Think Would Happen?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=30498\" class=\"attachment wp-att-30498\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kevin-oleary-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"802\" height=\"451\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-30498\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kevin-oleary-1024x576.png 1024w, http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kevin-oleary-300x169.png 300w, http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kevin-oleary-768x432.png 768w, http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kevin-oleary-213x120.png 213w, http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/kevin-oleary.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Americans are facing 40-year high inflation and there\u2019s been no shortage of discussion on the topic. It\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/10\/24\/politics\/midterms-economy-polls-pennsylvania-wisconsin-michigan\/index.html\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">the number one issue on the mind of Americans<\/a> heading into midterms, and every day on TV and in newspapers pundits are debating how long it will last and deciding who is to blame.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s most astonishing amid the flurry of news is just how badly the commentary misses. While there is broad agreement that the US is experiencing dangerously high <a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/how-inflation-drinks-your-milkshake\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">inflation<\/a>, partisanship and ideology have polluted basic economics.<\/p>\n<p>Progressive politicians like Robert Reich and Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweet incessantly that \u201ccorporate greed\u201d is to blame, an idea even Democratic economists have <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/another-top-obama-economist-offers-harsh-assessment-of-elizabeth-warren-s-inflation-theory\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">summarily dismissed<\/a>. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/fact-check-joe-bidens-putin-price-hike-inflation-claim-accurate-1715647\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">blamed Vladmir Putin<\/a>. Republicans, on the other hand, have consistently made the case that Joe Biden is the inflation culprit.<\/p>\n<p>All of these explanations are entirely or mostly wrong.<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s true that Putin and Biden deserve some blame\u2014particularly in terms of high energy prices\u2014there seems to be an unspoken bipartisan consensus to ignore the elephant in the room: the Federal Reserve\u2019s unprecedented money printing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XnIBtY-3akg\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>One person not playing the game is Kevin O\u2019Leary, the Canadian entrepreneur and investor who regularly appears on ABC\u2019s <em>Shark Tank<\/em>. <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XnIBtY-3akg\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">While speaking to journalist Daniela Cambone<\/a>, O\u2019Leary bluntly explained why Americans are experiencing the highest inflation in generations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe printing presses have gone insane,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we have inflation in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By printing presses, O\u2019Leary is talking about the Federal Reserve. The central bank has been expanding the supply of money for decades, and the clip has picked up in recent years. Nothing, however, has compared to the monetary expansion that occurred during the pandemic, something Fed Chairman Jerome Powell recently admitted in a <em>60 Minutes <\/em>interview with Scott Pelley.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You flooded the system with money,&#8221; the CBS journalist said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yes, we did,&#8221; Powell responded.<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 746px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=feeonline&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1483188552175271939&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Ffee.org%2Farticles%2Fkevin-o-leary-on-inflation-you-printed-7-trillion-in-30-months-what-did-you-think-would-happen%2F&amp;sessionId=6d11861c03a17b6238e328e0d0ff1d6a96535018&amp;siteScreenName=feeonline&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=a3525f077c700%3A1667415560940&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1483188552175271939\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>This is what O\u2019Leary is getting at. \u201cFlooding the system with money\u201d is what drove inflation to historic highs, and the result was always an obvious one.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor all the talk of inflation, you print $6.72 trillion in thirty months, what the hell did you think was going to happen?\u201d O\u2019Leary says. \u201cOf course there\u2019s going to be inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Leary\u2019s figures are not wrong. Federal Reserve data show that in August 2019 there was $14.9 trillion total in circulation. By January 2022, there was $21.6 trillion.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, more than 30 percent of dollars in circulation in January 2022 had been <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/how-does-the-federal-reserve-create-money\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">created<\/a> in the previous 30 months.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/shark20tank20host20kevin20oe28099leary_2d97d8e5-d4d5-49a5-9246-834e1cc37aec.png\" alt=\"\" data-zoom-target=\"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/shark20tank20host20kevin20oe28099leary_2d97d8e5-d4d5-49a5-9246-834e1cc37aec.png\" data-zoom=\"\" class=\"medium-zoom-image\"><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"link-0\">What Is Inflation?<\/h2>\n<p>Money creation is the obvious driver of price inflation, a concept that most Americans have at least a vague understanding of because we see it all around us today. Prices are up for almost everything, and up a lot.<\/p>\n<p>But are higher prices alone evidence of inflation? Prices are always changing, after all. Sometimes they go up and sometimes they fall; oftentimes it has nothing to do with money printing, but is simply a reflection of changes in supply and demand.<\/p>\n<p>This is what makes inflation challenging to define, and in fact there are two definitions for it.<\/p>\n<p>For centuries, inflation was defined essentially as an increase in the money supply. Basic economics holds that if you expand the money supply without expanding goods and services, prices will rise. So that was the definition of inflation: an increase in the supply of money.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both;\">\n<div id=\"om-fqmeg7lcejd7fy5oro5r-holder\">\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"om-lxkcubhhqwmdm0lkjkbp-holder\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Economists in the twentieth century added a second definition, however, calling inflation \u201ca general and sustained increase in prices.\u201d We can see from this definition that what separates inflation from simple price increases is that they are broad and <em>sustained<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Some economists <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xVDZVhdT2gY&amp;t=173s\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">prefer the older definition<\/a> of inflation, and Henry Hazlitt, author of <em>Economics in One Lesson,<\/em> can help us see why.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInflation is an increase in the quantity of money and credit. Its chief consequence is soaring prices,\u201d Hazlitt <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/inflation-in-one-page\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">explained<\/a>. \u201cTherefore inflation\u2014if we misuse the term to mean the rising prices themselves\u2014is caused solely by printing more money. For this the government\u2019s monetary policies are entirely responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hazlitt argues that rising prices are the <em>consequence <\/em>of inflation, which is an increase in the money supply. This is why some economists don\u2019t like the new definition of inflation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI prefer the older definition,\u201d Pace University economist Joseph Salerno <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xVDZVhdT2gY&amp;t=173s\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">explained in a lecture on hyperinflation<\/a>. \u201cI think it\u2019s more useful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not difficult to see why some economists see the traditional definition of inflation as superior. It gets right to the <em>cause <\/em>of price increases (an expansion of the money supply), while the new definition focuses on a symptom of inflation (\u201ca general and sustained increase in prices\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>This second definition is far less clear, which might be precisely why some people like it.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody wants to be blamed for inflation, after all, and under the first definition blame will always return to one spot: the people who control the money supply, and to a lesser extent the politicians, big banks, and bureaucrats who support the Fed and directly benefit from its largesse.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a lot of pressure for central bankers and politicians. It\u2019s far easier to say Vladmir Putin is primarily responsible for high prices, or the \u201dgreedy corporations,\u201d or Joe Biden\u2019s Build Back Better policies.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"link-1\">Inflation: A Silent Killer<\/h2>\n<p>Now, some will tell you that <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/inflation-electorate-hold-biden-democrats-accountable-midterms\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">if you\u2019re under 60 this is probably the first time<\/a> you\u2019ve experienced inflation, but this is not true. Usually inflation is just small enough that people don\u2019t notice it as much.<\/p>\n<p>For example, government data show a dollar printed in 1990 had already lost 50 percent of its purchasing power by 2021. This is why inflation is often called a \u201csilent killer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet history shows inflation often does not remain silent. It persists and grows, and over time it becomes <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/how-roman-central-planners-destroyed-their-economy\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\" data-toggle=\"popover\">a destroyer of civilizations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not think it is an exaggeration to say history is largely a history of inflation, usually inflations engineered by governments for the gain of governments,\u201d the Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek once observed.<\/p>\n<p>This is why Hayek believed the only way to have sound money was to take control of it out of the hands of central bankers and planners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t believe we shall ever have a good money again before we take the thing out of the hands of government,\u201d Hayek said.<\/p>\n<p>This is precisely why there has been such enthusiasm around decentralized currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.<\/p>\n<p>Whether cryptocurrencies can supplant the dollar remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the primary cause of inflation is not a boogeyman. It\u2019s not a Russian dictator, corporate greed, or bad legislation. 1<\/p>\n<p>The primary cause of inflation is the printing presses, exactly like Kevin O\u2019Leary says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jmmfT0JnvPc\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/shark-tank-host-on-inflation-you-printed-7-trillion-in-30-months-what-did-you-think-would-happen_4827024.html\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">A version of this article was published at The Epoch Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" defer=\"\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n<div>\n<h5>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/people\/jon-miltimore\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\"><br \/>\nJon Miltimore<br \/>\n<\/a><\/h5>\n<p class=\"brief-bio\">\n<p>Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. (<a href=\"https:\/\/jjmilt.substack.com\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">Follow him on Substack<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p><span>His writing\/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Star Tribune.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Bylines: Newsweek, The Washington Times, MSN.com, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, the Epoch Times.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/kevin-o-leary-on-inflation-you-printed-7-trillion-in-30-months-what-did-you-think-would-happen\/\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Americans are facing 40-year high inflation and there\u2019s been no shortage of discussion on the topic. It\u2019s the number one issue on the mind of Americans heading into midterms, and every day on TV and in newspapers pundits are debating how long it will last and deciding who is to blame. What\u2019s most astonishing amid the flurry of news is just how badly the commentary misses. While there is broad agreement that the US is experiencing dangerously high inflation, partisanship and ideology have polluted basic economics. Progressive politicians like Robert Reich and Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweet incessantly that \u201ccorporate greed\u201d is to blame, an idea even Democratic economists have summarily dismissed. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has blamed Vladmir Putin. Republicans, on the other hand, have consistently made the case that Joe Biden is the inflation culprit. All of these explanations are entirely or mostly wrong. While it\u2019s true that Putin and Biden deserve some blame\u2014particularly in terms of high energy prices\u2014there seems to be an unspoken bipartisan consensus to ignore the elephant in the room: the Federal Reserve\u2019s unprecedented money printing. One person not playing the game is Kevin O\u2019Leary, the Canadian entrepreneur and investor who regularly appears on ABC\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[622,898,3921],"class_list":["post-30497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-politics","tag-economics","tag-inflation","tag-kevin-oleary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30497"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30501,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30497\/revisions\/30501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}