Replies to post #103576 on Intel Corp (INTC)

[Windsock]

Oops, I attempted to provide a link but my clip board had the wrong link. Here is the correct link:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/07/who-owns-treasury-debt/

[mmoy]

I started watching Repo numbers back around 2001 and the approach back then was that the Fed would make credit available to banks and banks would buy Treasuries. Sometime in the last decade, they started buying Treasury, and other Government securities, directly.

The Federal Reserve is actually owned by private banks but it's management is appointed by the Federal Government. So there is a distinction between the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve also aims to make profits though I believe that it turns over much of them to the US Treasury.

[Windsock]

There are many definitions of money supply and physical currency is only one aspect of the money supply as far as the US economy is concerned. using the concept that printed currency and other components of the money supply are the same is useless for economic analysis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply#United_States

A significant difference for the electronic money created by the Fed is that the electronic money disappears when the Fed sells the bonds that it purchased from the US Treasury or banks. This allows the Fed to increase or decrease the money supply per its statutory charter. Currency issued by the US Treasury does not disappear as it moves about in the economy.

Physical currency plays a much smaller part in today's economy. On a global scale huge amounts of money are whizzing around in electronic transfers. Turning to the subject of this board, virtually all of Intel's revenue arrives as an electronic transfer to one of its bank accounts and virtually all of its payments are made electronically.

The financial activity of individuals has also changed to a largely electronic basis. Auto deposit puts your paycheck in your bank account and you have electronic Bill Pay, ATM/Debit cards, credit cards and even old fashioned checks passed around to distribute the funds electronically. I hope that you do not require a link to establish that statement :)