Boston Basic Income #130: Petrodollars

Basic income adds new money to the economy for consumers to spend. And that money has to have somewhere to go. The first place it goes is toward the purchase of goods and services, but where will it end up? Two of the most common answers are savings and taxes.

Even without basic income, the government is always adding new money to the economy. Where has it been ending up? For a long time, one part of the answer is that oil exporters sold oil for dollars and liked to accumulate Treasury debt. This so-called "petrodollar recycling" allowed the US to issue extra money thanks to the extra demand for Treasuries. But to what extent is this still true?

For optional reading this week, we have a 2016 Bloomberg article by Andrea Wong entitled "The Untold Story Behind Saudi Arabia's 41-Year U.S. Debt Secret."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-05-30/the-untold-story-behind-saudi-arabia-s-41-year-u-s-debt-secret

Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:

https://youtu.be/X63hgaCxjP8 — BBI #12: The Nature of Money
https://youtu.be/qvoGLtt1Tc0 — BBI #31: Venezuela Crisis
https://youtu.be/Cybw6WjGAFw — BBI #103: Dutch Disease

You can access the Zoom meeting here:
https://zoom.us/j/402968564

We will start and end the discussion by going around the room to get everyone's opening and closing thoughts.

If you'd like to speak at another time, click the "raise hand" button on the "Participants" tab. Alex will unmute you when it's your turn.

Send Alex a message via Zoom chat to let him know if you'd like to follow up on something specific.

Starting at 7pm, we will make introductions and establish parameters for the discussion. The YouTube live stream will begin at 7:10pm.

The discussion will be streamed live at this URL:
https://www.youtube.com/bostonbasicincome/live

It will also be available in podcast form the following day:
https://anchor.fm/bostonbasicincome

Image by Pavel N., RU on Noun Project
(https://thenounproject.com/term/oil-money/227345/)