The Dutch government is over the moon.
They can now lend money with negative interest rates.
Yes, you heard that right! The Dutch government can now lend money and get paid for it.
We do like to complain about our own government, I guess like everyone else in the world does about theirs, but financially the Netherlands do pretty well.
Our government has been earning more money than it's pending for years and has been using that money to reduce the national debt.
But that's about to change. Now, they want to lend extra 'free' money to invest in public transport, infrastructure, Artificial intelligence and technology, science research and more.
As a Dutch person, I have mixed feelings about it.
Saving is in our blood and we are tight spenders. I'm pretty sure we are known for it ( probably not always in a positive light).
I fear debt a lot and would do anything to get rid of it if I had any.
But I definitely do believe in investing and with 'free' money a lot can be done to improve the country and the economy if spent wisely.
Also, I do have some reservation about the longevity of the Euro (FIAT) as many people in crypto do, so using some of it to improve the country, while it still has value, instead of paying off debt could be very wise too.
But if you ask me honestly, I personally don't understand negative interest rates at all.
I'm sure bright minds can explain it to me but as a Dutch person, I wouldn't lend my money willingly to anyone knowing I would get less back. It just doesn't make sense to me.
I might as well put it under my mattress.
And negative interest rates are causing some more problems that I can see coming.
Our pension funds must invest in safe investments. Government Bonds being one of them. But they no longer give a return, it now costs money, and that's a problem. Pension funds need to make a return to pay the pensions. I wish them good luck trying to figure that one out.
I don't rely on pension funds for my old age btw. I'm taking care of that myself.
(I expect no-one of my age to ever receive a pension when they are 70 and everyone that currently pays for one, expecting to get one, will get screwed.)
Other problems you can expect is negative interest on your saving account. I'm pretty sure that's coming to.
That's going to fun. I'm sure the Dutch (that love to save money) will not like that very much.
I always learned in school that lowering interest rates could help the economy because people tend to spend more when money is cheap.
But...now money is free (for the government for now). I just don't know, it just feels so wrong. And there are already signs of a new recession on its way...what will they do next? Give even more free money when lending money?!?!
Man...
When I think about these things too much I'm always very happy to already be living in an alternative reality and that I have different investments in place to spread risk.
Blockchain and cryptocurrencies being my favorite one obviously.
For me, it's Noah's ark of value and I'm sure glad I'm on board already.
But I also, fully understand why some people prefer gold and silver or other precious metals for the same reasons.
These last two have being going up pretty well lately (especially silver), and well with all this free money and uncertainty, I guess it's easy to see why.
There are some interesting times ahead.
I'm no economist so I could be very wrong about the whole thing. And I sure hope so.
But I'm not counting on it.
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