[dennisw]

Whoa, I'm sure glad I took the time to try and explain it, 'cause I found out that what I was going to say was totally wrong.  Thing is that usually almost all money is created by banks, not the Fed.  Back in the end of '08 the total money supply was $9.3T and of that less than $0.6T of it had been created by the Fed printing money to buy U.S. debt (mostly T-bills, mortgages, and reverse purchase agreements.  Since then the money supply's increased by  $3.2T even while the Fed has poured $3.8T into the economy buying up debt. 

Roughly speaking, since 2009 the US money supply has increased only as much as the Federal Reserve has been printing money via buying U.S. debt (mostly T-bills, mortgages, and reverse purchase agreements
Before 2009 the FR had much less (.6 trillion) Federal securities on its balance sheet. This was the normal way of doing things which we are way beyond by now.

 

[expat_panama]

Before 2009 the FR had much less (.6 trillion) Federal securities on its balance sheet. This was the normal way of doing things which we are way beyond by now.

 My thinking is that the problem isn't the Fed expanding the money supply.  The problem is that the American people aren't.  We need to get the patient breathing again, not simply remove life support.  Our question is why money's not being created; maybe we could check the numbers on loans because it's credit that creates money.  Somehow I'd thought there was no problem there.