The Federal Reserve facilitated $7.7 trillion in liquidity for banks, but nothing for homeowners. Most importantly, according to Nick Srnicek's account, is that key interest rates suddenly dropped around the world. This "easy money" era is visible in figure 1.10, which illustrates the long-term interest rate environment in the U.S. When interest rates at zero weren't enough, central banks engaged in "quantitative easing," in which central banks buy government debt and bonds, increasing the demand for other financial assets, easing credit, and raising asset prices, thereby stimulating the wider economy. … "While quantitative easing (QE) may have stabilised the financial system," according to Ann Pettifor, "it inflated the value of assets like property—owned on the whole, by the more affluent. As such, QE contributed to rising inequality and to the political and social instability associated with it."

XREF: Connects to broader critiques of monetary policy and wealth inequality debates in economics and political writing.

Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, loc. 84