Zergak eta dirua jaulkitzea

Ben Bernanke Fed-eko nagusiak argi izan ditu bi afera erabat desberdin: alde batetik, Fed-etik merkataritza banku batera doan mailegatze prozesua, eta bestetik, zergen ordainketa.

Mailegatze prozesua konputagailua erabiltzea da, besterik ez: alegia, edozein bankuk Fed-en daukan kontuko kantitatea handitzea[1].

Zergen afera beste kontu bat da[2]: behin zerga ordaindu eta gero, diru hori soilik kontabilitatean azaltzen da, egindako ordainketaren lekukoa izateko[3].

Gauza bera dio Alan Blinder-ek[4].

Ondorioa oso bistakoa da: kreditu elektroniko horiek ez datoz inondik eta ez-gobernuko sektorean sartzen dira zerga kreditu bezala ordainduak ahal izateko. Era berean, tasa kredituak zurituak direnean ez doaz inora, soilik kontabilitate kontuetara, gertaera idazteko[5].

Harrigarri bada ere, Bernanke iritziz aldatu da, erabat. Aldaketa hori Warren Mosler-ek kritikatu du[6]. Ondorio ezin txarragoak bistan daude[7].


[1]  Ikus http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/12/60minutes/main4862191_page2.shtml: Asked if it’s tax money the Fed is spending, Bernanke said, “It’s not tax money. The banks have accounts with the Fed, much the same way that you have an account in a commercial bank. So, to lend to a bank, we simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account that they have with the Fed. It’s much more akin to printing money than it is to borrowing.”

Halaber, ikus Bill Mitchell-ek dioena in http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=15591: “…we might just recall what the current US Federal Reserve Governor matter-of-factly told the US Congress (Committee on Financial Services) on July 14, 2011 (Ron Paul is part of that Committee). The Chair Congressman Duffy asked him:

DUFFY: … When — when you buy assets, where does that money come from?

BERNANKE: We create reserves in the banking system which are just held with the Fed. It does not go out into the public.

We can argue about the technicalities but the essence is that there is no revenue-constraint operating here.

The discussion continued:

DUFFY: Does it come from tax dollars, though, to buy those assets?

BERNANKE: It does not.

Once again technicalities aside (for example, the purchase of interest-bearing assets from the private sector reduces private incomes which some might consider to be a “tax”), this reinforces the fact that the government, in this case, the federal reserve, is not revenue-constrained.

DUFFY: Are you basically printing money to buy those assets?

BERNANKE: We’re not printing money. We’re creating reserves in the banking system.

This is the electronic version of “printing money” which in Modern Monetary Theory we refer to as adding financial assets to the non-government sector.

The point here though is that the central bank acts as “part” of the overall US government (consolidated treasury-central bank) and can credit bank accounts at will. Please read my blog – The consolidated government – treasury and central bank – for more discussion on this point.

Think about what a US dollar is. Anyone holding one can present them (or the electronic version – deposits) to the US government in return for a tax credit (payment of their tax liabilities). So when the Federal Reserve credits bank accounts it is really providing Treasury tax credits to the holders of those accounts.”

[2] Ikus http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=15591: “When a US citizen (this applies in any sovereign nation) pays their taxes the conceptual chain of events is that the central bank accounts for the payment (acknowledging the tax credit) and informs the Treasury that the tax obligation has been eliminated. The dollars don’t go anywhere! The scores are adjusted – that is it.”

[3]  Ikus http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=15591: “The conclusion is obvious as it is powerful. These electronic credits come from nowhere and enter the non-government sector as a tax credit against obligations that the non-government agents have to government. The source of these funds cannot come from the taxpayer. Similarly, when the tax credits are redeemed they go nowhere other than into accounting books to record the events.”

[4]  Ikus Bill Mitchell-ek in http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=15591:  “There was an interesting PBS News Hour program a few years ago (October 7, 2008) as the US Federal Reserve was about to introduce its Quantitative Easing program for the first time. The program – Federal Reserve Employs Tools to Ease Credit Fears – interviewed economist Alan Blinder, a former vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve. Here is a snippet of the transcript after being asked to explain how the US Federal Reserve gets “money into the system”:

Well, when the Fed first starts these operations, including the other ones they do, what they try to do is re-jigger their balance sheets, sell one asset, and that for the Fed has been mostly been treasuries, and buy something else.

As that capacity gets used up, the Fed can no longer swap one asset for another. And then it has to … we use the euphemism “print money.” What that really means is somebody is on a keyboard creating electronic images of money. Large amounts of money are not cash.

So these are credits at the Federal Reserve system basically. A central bank can do that; a commercial bank cannot do that.

That couldn’t be clearer.”

[5] Ikus http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=15591. “The conclusion is obvious as it is powerful. These electronic credits come from nowhere and enter the non-government sector as a tax credit against obligations that the non-government agents have to government. The source of these funds cannot come from the taxpayer. Similarly, when the tax credits are redeemed they go nowhere other than into accounting books to record the events.”

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