Comment

Hope, Rainbows, and Muammar Gadafi

384
3 wood1/22/2009 5:03:37 pm PST

The money supply as measured by M1 and M2 are growing at a very rapid rate.
Fed Balance-Sheet Assets Decline to $2.04 Trillion

Buried down near the bottom of this article is this:

The Fed said the M2 money supply rose by $8 billion in the week ended Jan. 12. That left M2 growing at an annual rate of 8.9 percent for the past 52 weeks, above the target of 5 percent the Fed once set for maximum growth. The central bank no longer has a formal target.

The Fed reports two measures of the money supply each week. M1 includes all currency held by consumers and companies for spending, money held in checking accounts and travelers checks. M2, the more widely followed, adds savings and private holdings in money market mutual funds.

During the latest reporting week, M1 fell by $36.4 billion. Over the past 52 weeks, M1 rose 13.7 percent.

Just more evidence that high inflation is just a matter of time. If the velocity of money (how many times a given dollar changes hands in 1 year) speeds up too, look out.