Power & Market

Jared Bernstein Knows One Thing: “We Can Print Our Own Money”

If you’re wondering why you should buy gold or worry about a financial meltdown I have two words for you: Jared Bernstein. He is the Chief Economist for Joe Biden. In a clip from an upcoming documentary “Finding the Money” Bernstein is asked about the federal government’s borrowing process and he stumbles and bumbles, saying “The US government can’t go bankrupt because we can print our own money.” It gets worse from there.

”They print the dollars so why does the government even borrow?” the interviewer asks.

“Well, some of the language is just confusing. The government definitely prints its own money. The government definitely prints money and lends that money. The government definitely prints money,” Bernstein rambled repeatedly, unable to articulate the basic concepts.

“It then lends that money by selling bonds. Is that what they do?” Bernstein desperately asked…anyone, anyone at all. 

“They sell bonds and then people buy the bonds and lends the money. Yeah.” Bernstein went on as he appeared to become further confused, while attempting to reassure himself with his own answer, reports The Daily Mail.

“Language and concepts can be unnecessarily confusing,” he said and finally admitted “I don’t get it. I don’t know what they’re talking about.” 

“The government clearly prints money and it does it all the time. And the government clearly borrows. Otherwise we wouldn’t be having this debt and deficit conversation. 

“I don’t think there’s anything confusing there.”

Bernstein serves as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers after teaching “federal, state and international economic policies, specifically the middle class squeeze, income inequality and mobility, trends in employment and earnings, low-wage labor markets, poverty, and international comparisons” at Howard University, Columbia University and New York University.

As they say, his explanation might be considered close enough for government work. 

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