I forget which contrarian this stemmed from, but it was probably linked on HN previously. There's a larger reason most central banks print money: most countrie

I forget which contrarian this stemmed from, but it was probably linked on HN previously. There's a larger reason most central banks print money: most countries are debtor nations. If you are a debtor nation, and you have the option to print at minimal consequence (say, because your currency is a world reserve currency), doing so is strictly better than all other options. All other approaches open the very real possibility of an ugly spiral into depression (real) and default. I believe the phrasing the author used was 'when faced with a choice between actual default (economy unable to support debt payments) and implicit default (currency inflation), almost every democratic government will choose the latter.' It's easier for people to lose invisible money (inflation) than visible money (depression / fiscal tightening / loan repayment).