<p>Anyone can buy corporations as long as their money is good. That's as true for governments as it is for individuals. So as long as their money is good, they can pretty much buy what they like.</p>

<p>A country that carried on printing money would soon find it had inflation &amp; currency depreciation. That is to say, it's money isn't as good as it used to be. So now, it needs more money to buy assets. That's the limiting factor, right there.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-27T01:20:23.860Z
2016-08-27T08:24:19.103Z
2016-08-27T08:24:19.103Z
410 gone
<p>The newest trend in global finance is elite monetization, meaning monetization of all elite assets such as top corporations and municipalities. Central banks are buying the stocks and bonds of elite corporations. For example, in Japan a significant fraction of all the top companies (Sumitomo, Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Toyota, etc) is owned by the Bank of Japan. The US Fed just threatened to buy "other asset classes", presumably meaning corporate bonds. To some extent the purchases are monetized, ie bought with newly created money, and to some extent they are made by borrowing from the public at negative interest rates. In other words the Japanese people are paying the Bank of Japan for the privilege of loaning them money to buy stocks and bonds. Of course, one could argue that they are not "buying" anything since it is printed or borrowed money, so you could argue it is a seizure of equity, not a genuine purchase.</p>

<p>The logical question is what is the end of this? Can all the governments of the world, just "buy" all the corporations of the world? What is the terminus ad infinitum?</p>

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2016-08-26T22:25:25.743Z
Countries that are financially trusted like Japan and the US can afford to do this. If Argentina tried to do this it would likely cause inflation and then stagflation or companies would reject the payments.
VCG
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2016-08-27T18:42:41.700Z
@LassieFair In the last 9 months about half of the [20 questions](http://economics.stackexchange.com/users/1448/lassie-fair?tab=questions&sort=newest) you posted have been answered. You have accepted zero answers. What is the terminus ad infinitum?
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-27T20:54:04.233Z
@denesp I don't consider the answer provided so far to be in any way a good answer to my question. I didn't even upvote it. "Anyone can buy corporations as long as their money is good."? Yeah, I know that. In fact, the average 7th grader knows that. That does not answer my question. Also, I notice the answerer did not bother to upvote my question. So, my question is worth answering, but not upvoting?
Lassie Fair
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2016-08-28T05:57:53.150Z
@LassieFair I was not speaking about this question but your last 20. Click the link in my previous comment.
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-04T10:55:05.620Z
@LassieFair I don't see how you would know whether EnergyNumbers voted your question up or not. Unless you did not notice any upvotes at all.
ahorn
<macroeconomics><monetary-policy>
Monetization of everything, where does it end?
Lassie Fair
# Monetization of everything, where does it end?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-08-26)

The newest trend in global finance is elite monetization, meaning monetization of all elite assets such as top corporations and municipalities. Central banks are buying the stocks and bonds of elite corporations. For example, in Japan a significant fraction of all the top companies (Sumitomo, Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Toyota, etc) is owned by the Bank of Japan. The US Fed just threatened to buy "other asset classes", presumably meaning corporate bonds. To some extent the purchases are monetized, ie bought with newly created money, and to some extent they are made by borrowing from the public at negative interest rates. In other words the Japanese people are paying the Bank of Japan for the privilege of loaning them money to buy stocks and bonds. Of course, one could argue that they are not "buying" anything since it is printed or borrowed money, so you could argue it is a seizure of equity, not a genuine purchase.

The logical question is what is the end of this? Can all the governments of the world, just "buy" all the corporations of the world? What is the terminus ad infinitum?

**Tags:** macroeconomics, monetary-policy

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Countries that are financially trusted like Japan and the US can afford to do this. If Argentina tried to do this it would likely cause inflation and then stagflation or companies would reject the payments.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 In the last 9 months about half of the [20 questions](http://economics.stackexchange.com/users/1448/username_0-username_0?tab=questions&sort=newest) you posted have been answered. You have accepted zero answers. What is the terminus ad infinitum?  
> **username_0**: @denesp I don't consider the answer provided so far to be in any way a good answer to my question. I didn't even upvote it. "Anyone can buy corporations as long as their money is good."? Yeah, I know that. In fact, the average 7th grader knows that. That does not answer my question. Also, I notice the answerer did not bother to upvote my question. So, my question is worth answering, but not upvoting?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 I was not speaking about this question but your last 20. Click the link in my previous comment.  
> **username_3**: @username_0 I don't see how you would know whether EnergyNumbers voted your question up or not. Unless you did not notice any upvotes at all.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-08-27. Score: 2

Anyone can buy corporations as long as their money is good. That's as true for governments as it is for individuals. So as long as their money is good, they can pretty much buy what they like.

A country that carried on printing money would soon find it had inflation & currency depreciation. That is to say, it's money isn't as good as it used to be. So now, it needs more money to buy assets. That's the limiting factor, right there.


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