Refresh my memory. What is the report called which tracks the amount of new

[Frustratedlady]

money being printed? Didn't they stop issuing that report over a year ago? Have they gone back to providing that information? Is there any way we can find out and does it matter what the amount is?

[RichardRay]

1. M0?

There are four M's, the measures of money supply, M0 through M3. M0 is the measure of physical currency, plus accounts at central banks that can be quickly converted to physical currency. The Fed has never published M0 (that I know of). They did stop publishing M3 in May of 2006. M3 is the most general measure of 'money' in the system and is quite difficult to estimate as it includes eurodollars and repurchase agreements that are hard to know in a highly integrated economy. There are good non-official estimates of all the M's, but you have to look for them. The official Fed history for M1 and M2 in the U.S. are at Federal Reserve Money Supply History.

See Wikipedia Article on Money Supplyfor official definitions of all the M's.

[Frustratedlady]

2. Boy, it doesn't seem like that is the report, but M3 might be the one.

I remember reading about them no longer issuing the report and that the people who actually worked with the printing of new money were on gag order and told not to divulge any information.

Why would it matter, since it is so difficult for the average person to understand?

I guess about all we can do is hope they know what they are doing and can pull us out of this mess without too much damage. I'm concerned mainly about what it will do to Social Security, as my pension plan (so far) is OK.

Thanks for your input. I didn't think about Wiki!

[RichardRay]

3. It may not be...

but those are the ones I know about. M3 estimates were stopped awhile ago since no one was happy with the accuracy given all the challenges inherent in the measure.

M0 sounds like the number you want, but the Fed has never published any regular report on that figure, so you may have heard about something else entirely.

[Frustratedlady]

4. Thanks for taking the time to explain.