Federal Reserve Balance Sheet
- Before the 2008 Financial Crisis it grew at roughly the rate of GD Growth
- Was roughly the same as GDP
- After 2008 the balance sheet grew many times faster than GDP (it exploded)
- Line looks vertical on a chart - not slow growth
- Concern that this drove up asset prices
- Over 94 years the balance sheet slowly grew to roughly 900 Billion pre 2008
- After the 2008 Meltdown, the balance sheet grew by 1.4 Trillion in just 94 days (under Ben Bernanke)
- Cause a reflation and recovery of financial markets
- Reshaped how the US financial system looks since