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Where does the value of newly printed money come from — is it a free lunch (in which case, why not print quadrillions and make everyone a millionaire) or does t
by sbenitoj 8y ago
Where does the value of newly printed money come from — is it a free lunch (in which case, why not print quadrillions and make everyone a millionaire) or does the value come from savers (in which case it’s stolen from them by debasing the value of their savings)?
- arcticbull 8y agoWhy are they saving money (a medium of exchange) and not assets (a store of value) like gold as you suggest? It's a regular haircut for unproductive capital. It's a punishment for not investing. It comes from people who don't put their money to work, and it comes from people who issued fixed-rate debt as an investment. It's a risk they specifically took on. All this was covered in the linked articles. Inflation is a constant (small) pressure to keep money moving.
- sbenitoj 8y agoWhy is inflation (the government printing money) legal but me counterfeiting $100 bills and passing them off a legit illegal and considered theft?
- arcticbull 8y agoBecause government is an extension of all the people, and the government doing it is the people’s will. You doing it is not an extension of the people’s will, and prohibited by law (again, the people decided that). For the same reason throwing people into prison for committing crimes isn’t against the law but when you lock someone in your basement, you go to prison. This is basic civics. You keep dodging the question, over and over, it’s getting old.