If The Fed Is Fighting Inflation Why Is The Balance-Sheet Still Expanding?
If the Fed is fighting inflation and has ended quantitative easing, why is its balance sheet still going up?
In the week ending April 13, the balance sheet grew by $27.9 billion, hitting a new record of $8.965 trillion. This is up about $3 billion from its previous high in March.
As Peter Schiff put it in a tweet, “For all the talk of fighting inflation and shirking its balance sheet, the Fed continues creating more inflation and expanding its balance sheet!”
At the end of March, it looked as if the Fed had ended QE. The balance sheet fell between March 21 and March 28 but then increased slightly the following week prior to the nearly $28 billion increase last week.
Looking at the graph, QE has clearly slowed down, but balance sheet expansion hasn’t stopped. Despite the taper having supposedly ended at the beginning of March, the Fed still appears to be running quantitative easing. In effect, the central bank continues to print money out of thin air to buy bonds. This is the exact opposite of fighting inflation.- READ MORE
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