If you took all the bills and coins floating around today and added them all up, how much money would you have? All of that hard and easily liquidated currency is known as the M0 money supply.
The rest of the money is held in bank accounts of various types, and the Federal Reserve tracks these funds in three different values known as the M1, M2 and M3 money supplies:
M1 represents all of the currency in the M0 money supply, plus all of the money held in checking accounts and other checkable accounts, as well as all of the money in travelers' checks. In July 2009, the M1 money supply for U.S. dollars equaled about $1,655.6 billion [source: Federal Reserve].
M2 is the M1 supply, plus all of the money held in money market funds, savings accounts and small CDs. In July 2009, the M2 money supply was about $8,326.8 billion [source: Federal Reserve].
M3 is M2 plus all of the large CDs. As of March 2006, the Fed no longer tracks the M3 money stock as an economic indicator. That month, M3 totaled around $10.3 trillion [source: St. Louis Fed].
The rest of the money is held in bank accounts of various types, and the Federal Reserve tracks these funds in three different values known as the M1, M2 and M3 money supplies:
M1 represents all of the currency in the M0 money supply, plus all of the money held in checking accounts and other checkable accounts, as well as all of the money in travelers' checks. In July 2009, the M1 money supply for U.S. dollars equaled about $1,655.6 billion [source: Federal Reserve].
M2 is the M1 supply, plus all of the money held in money market funds, savings accounts and small CDs. In July 2009, the M2 money supply was about $8,326.8 billion [source: Federal Reserve].
M3 is M2 plus all of the large CDs. As of March 2006, the Fed no longer tracks the M3 money stock as an economic indicator. That month, M3 totaled around $10.3 trillion [source: St. Louis Fed].
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Correct me if I'm wrong here, but that means if you took every penny in cash, every travelers check, emptied every bank account (rich, poor, small business and large corporation), money market fund, small CD, and large CD just five short years ago in 2006...you could only pay 2/3 of the current national debt.
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