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This anti-inflationary nonsense is the antivax of the finance world. There’s a huge reason it’s done essentially universally, but nobody alive had to live throu

This anti-inflationary nonsense is the antivax of the finance world. There’s a huge reason it’s done essentially universally, but nobody alive had to live through the chaos that inflationary monetary policy was borne from. It’s fine to think that there might be other, better approaches to solving those problems. It’s fine to argue that central banks might not always act with the best interests of the economy at heart. But pretending like those problems weren’t real and that we don’t need any of it—as the financially-illiterate cryptocurrency community seems to do—is absurd.

siwatanejo 8y ago
Give it time, and the banks&governments that create money from thin-air will actually be the ones seen as the anti-vaxxers of the finance world instead, very soon.
dnautics 8y ago
> but nobody alive had to live through the chaos that inflationary monetary policy was borne from. This is a dangerous narrative. By strictly econometric measures, the 2008 crisis was not too far off of, say, the great depression. By and large, I wonder if the reason why people aren't dying on the streets (aka "chaos"), etc, is because we have reliable sources of food, access to medicine, etc.
millettjon 8y ago
Are the people of Venezuela not living through chaos? Outside of the US, EU, and a handful of other countries, the rest of the world is fairly chaotic.
gdhbcc 8y ago
The reason why it's done essentially universally is not necessarily because it is good for the economy in general, it needs only to be good for those who control the issuing of currency (governments). And it is beneficial for them to do so simply because it enables them to spend more without having to take unpopular measures like raising taxes. I have read the vast majority of the arguments for having inflation or deflation and to be perfectly honest I find most of them to be unconvincing and essentially boil down to "it's good because its good". Both inflation, deflation and stagflation have their benefits and drawbacks and they all have a place and should all be used, because economic scenarios and circumstances differ over time and place. To state that we should all have at all times everywhere 2% inflation is dumb, dangerous and frankly if you hold that sort of view you have no business being anywhere near monetary policy because you're not an economist, you're a priest.

siwatanejo 8y ago

Give it time, and the banks&governments that create money from thin-air will actually be the ones seen as the anti-vaxxers of the finance world instead, very soon.

dnautics 8y ago

> but nobody alive had to live through the chaos that inflationary monetary policy was borne from. This is a dangerous narrative. By strictly econometric measures, the 2008 crisis was not too far off of, say, the great depression. By and large, I wonder if the reason why people aren't dying on the streets (aka "chaos"), etc, is because we have reliable sources of food, access to medicine, etc.

millettjon 8y ago

Are the people of Venezuela not living through chaos? Outside of the US, EU, and a handful of other countries, the rest of the world is fairly chaotic.

gdhbcc 8y ago

The reason why it's done essentially universally is not necessarily because it is good for the economy in general, it needs only to be good for those who control the issuing of currency (governments). And it is beneficial for them to do so simply because it enables them to spend more without having to take unpopular measures like raising taxes. I have read the vast majority of the arguments for having inflation or deflation and to be perfectly honest I find most of them to be unconvincing and essentially boil down to "it's good because its good". Both inflation, deflation and stagflation have their benefits and drawbacks and they all have a place and should all be used, because economic scenarios and circumstances differ over time and place. To state that we should all have at all times everywhere 2% inflation is dumb, dangerous and frankly if you hold that sort of view you have no business being anywhere near monetary policy because you're not an economist, you're a priest.