> I'm kind of baffled by the implied premise that stable > interest rates are preferable to stable inflation, though. I didn't mean to imply that. I think

> I'm kind of baffled by the implied premise that stable > interest rates are preferable to stable inflation, though. I didn't mean to imply that. I think the two are inextricably linked. With regards to achieving stable inflation, to me it just looks like we've flattened out the spikes, not gotten rid of them [1]. And, mind you, the two spikes at ~1865 and ~1914 were caused by wars. We can't exactly say we had either a world war or a civil war from 1965 to 1985. [1] http://www.economics-charts.com/cpi/cpi-1800-2005.html http://www.economics-charts.com/cpi/cpi-1800-2005.html