$BTC A Brief History of the Federal Reserve's 'Nuclear-Powered Money Printing Machine': Four Rounds of QE, How It Gradually Soaked the World?
In summary: For the past decade, the global market has only played one game - guessing when the Federal Reserve's money printer will start, and how much it will print. Below are the precise records of the machine's four full-force launches.
First Round of QE (2008-2010): Desperate Firefighting
· Time: November 25, 2008 (In the center of the financial firestorm)
· What was done: Jumped directly into the market to buy up bad MBS (Mortgage-Backed Securities) and government bonds, and later bought even more.
· Scale: $1.725 trillion (at that time it seemed like astronomical numbers)
· Implicit message: 'To hell with the rules, the system cannot die on my watch!'
Second Round of QE (2010-2011): Lifesaving Shot
· Time: November 3, 2010 (Economic recovery is like a snail)
· What was done: Focused on purchasing $600 billion in long-term government bonds.
· Implicit message: 'The medicine cannot stop, interest rates need to be lowered a bit more.'
Third Round of QE (2012-2014): Infinite Refills Mode
· Time: September 13, 2012 (Open-ended starting point)
· What was done: Created a commitment to 'unlimited' debt purchases, ultimately ramping up to $85 billion per month.
· Key operation: Started 'Taper' (reducing bond purchases) in December 2013, the market was immediately scared.
· Implicit message: 'How much I print is up to me, until the job market softens.'
Fourth Round of QE (2020-2022): Epic Nuclear Explosion
· Time: March 15/23, 2020 (Pandemic panic)
· What was done: Directly announced 'unlimited', peaking at $120 billion per month. The balance sheet soared from $4.2 trillion to nearly $9 trillion (doubled!).
· End mark: In March 2022, this largest money printer in history finally stopped.
· Implicit message: 'The bigger the crisis, the stronger my money printer.'
Mickey's Excrement Theory: The history of the Federal Reserve's QE is a medical miracle documentary that uses the next bigger bubble to heal the burst of the previous bubble. The patient (market) becomes increasingly dependent on the dosage (liquidity), while the doctor's toolbox (balance sheet) is about to burst.
