4 ms·

Not this again. People do not own the value of a dollar, just the dollar's IOU. If you have a house, you do not own the value of the house, you own the house.

Not this again. People do not own the value of a dollar, just the dollar's IOU. If you have a house, you do not own the value of the house, you own the house. ——The values of your dollars and your houses depend on valuations by the rest of society, and you do not own that, and thus the value of your dollars and houses cannot be stolen. In fact per the Constitution, the government has thr exclusive right to choose the number if dollars to produce, and we investors made a prediction that the government's money creation policies would continue a certain way. In the case where the government produces more money than we had predicted doesn't make us victims of theft, just poor investors. As a matter of policy, there are multiple stakeholders: those owning debt want deflation, those born without wealth want inflation so that there are enough dollars in circulation to match the growth in population.

someguydave 10y ago
>People do not own the value of a dollar, just the dollar's IOU. Value of your dollar holdings= (value of all dollars) * (number of your dollars / number of all dollars). You assert that nobody is promising the value of your dollar holdings will remain constant. I agree that this assertion is true, but it's also obvious that failing to maintain the "value of all dollars" is a good way to impoverish all dollar holders, possibly permanently. Convincing people that you aren't going to allow them to maintain the value of their dollar holdings is a good way to encourage them to sell dollars.
- AnthonyMouse 10y ago
  And if people sell dollars then we get inflation, which allows the housing stock to expand and reduce real housing costs without putting everyone underwater on their mortgages by reducing nominal housing prices. What seems to be the problem?
- SubiculumCode 10y ago
  downvoting was not deserved. In anycase, your comment did not contradict mine. My point was that framing it as theft is incorrect and unhelpful. There are multiple stakeholders, retaining value is good for some, but detrimental to thers. That is, it is a matter of policy, not rights of ownership.

someguydave 10y ago

>People do not own the value of a dollar, just the dollar's IOU. Value of your dollar holdings= (value of all dollars) * (number of your dollars / number of all dollars). You assert that nobody is promising the value of your dollar holdings will remain constant. I agree that this assertion is true, but it's also obvious that failing to maintain the "value of all dollars" is a good way to impoverish all dollar holders, possibly permanently. Convincing people that you aren't going to allow them to maintain the value of their dollar holdings is a good way to encourage them to sell dollars.

AnthonyMouse 10y ago
And if people sell dollars then we get inflation, which allows the housing stock to expand and reduce real housing costs without putting everyone underwater on their mortgages by reducing nominal housing prices. What seems to be the problem?
SubiculumCode 10y ago
downvoting was not deserved. In anycase, your comment did not contradict mine. My point was that framing it as theft is incorrect and unhelpful. There are multiple stakeholders, retaining value is good for some, but detrimental to thers. That is, it is a matter of policy, not rights of ownership.