The IMF can literally conjure any amount of money out of thin air whenever they feel like it wtf how have I never heard about this

And before you ask, yes, almost all money created goes straight into the coffers of western countries instead of to the global south

  • cfgaussian
    14·
    2 years ago

    All fiat money is “conjured out of thin air”. It’s just that this is usually the purview of governments via central banks. However with the IMF being essentially a tool of Washington to be wielded as they please this is just that - a government creating money - but with extra steps. Fundamentally money is debt, which is why it can be created at will, it is not an actual commodity despite what dumbass libertarians believe who think the glaring contradictions in modern monetary policy can be solved by something as infantile as bringing back the gold standard or with cryptocurrency. Problem is that the government of a sovereign country can never actually be forced to pay its debts, especially if they issue a globally used reserve currency like the dollar. This is the infamous “free lunch” that Michael Hudson always talks about, so long as the petrodollar stands the US can create money out of nothing at the expense of the rest of the world and never actually paying that debt back.

    • Water Bowl SlimeOP
      9·
      2 years ago

      True, but it’s especially egregious here because the IMF is one of the biggest institutions responsible for trapping countries in debt. But literally this entire time, it could have just created and allocated SDRs to them instead. Poofing money into existence isn’t something that a regular bank can do, but the IMF can, and I’ve never seen this aspect discussed before.

        • Rye
          2·
          2 years ago

          only 24 banks are allowed to deal directly with the fed

    • Rye
      2·
      2 years ago

      In Capital vol1, money is described as the ultimate commodity, of which all commodities gravitate around, but still debt like you said. Also take a look at the CBDC China launched, you might find it interesting. It’s neither speculative nor unregulated, think of it as a form of money used for international financial settlement (that can’t be touched by the U.S).