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I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on this... Over the last 10 years there has been a massive increase in the money supply and a huge inflation in financial
by debug_op 7y ago
I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on this...
Over the last 10 years there has been a massive increase in the money supply and a huge inflation in financial assets, but not much inflation in the sorts of goods and services that average people spend their money on.
So, riffing on these results, what if the treasury printed enough money to wipe away the debt of every US citizen, either paying off loans on people's behalf or just giving money to people and encouraging them to pay off their loans?
Because loans are quoted in nominal dollar amounts this would eliminate everyone's loan balances. The money used to pay off the loans would then be invested, because creditors are generally institutions and institutions tend to invest in financial assets.
The net result would be an elimination of the debt of all citizens, inflation in financial assets, but steady consumer goods and services prices.
The downside of this is that income inequality increases, with institutions and holders of financial assets getting a massive transfer of wealth, but the upside is that we get rid of everyone's debt.
What am I missing?
- shkkmo 7y agoI mean, that's basically just a twist on the idea of printing money to fund Basic Income... with a possible bias towards people in debt?
- jacques_chester 7y agoIt would set up incredible moral hazard. Folks would take on enormous debts and then lobby for another round of that debt repayment. Having set the precedent and given how incredibly popular it would be politically, it would likely happen again. The net effect would be a spiral of inflation.