3 ms·

"The beauty of inflation is that it hurts you in direct proportion to how well off you are, and it can't be dodged (i.e. it's like a wealth tax, only actually a

by rsync 6y ago

"The beauty of inflation is that it hurts you in direct proportion to how well off you are, and it can't be dodged (i.e. it's like a wealth tax, only actually achievable). We could drive inflation while also ameliorating a lot of the pain it would cause by implementing UBI (in fact, I'm pretty sure big deficit spending is the only way UBI will ever happen)." I think you misunderstand ... Generally speaking inflation can be managed and avoided by asset holders and business owners. They can adjust their rents and prices to match the inflation in a way that wage earners and renters cannot. Generally speaking it is deflation that hurts asset holders and business owners. We have made desperate attempts since the financial crisis to stave off deflation and even then we're barely treading water. Financial assets and real property (and also silly things like paintings) have benefited but look at the price of oil ... look at the price of other basic commodities and services like shipping. Our 21st century landscape is deflationary and elites are frantically doing everything possible to avoid it.

imtringued 6y ago
>Generally speaking inflation can be managed and avoided by asset holders and business owners. They can adjust their rents and prices to match the inflation in a way that wage earners and renters cannot. If there is consumer inflation you can't manage inflation in a way that doesn't productively employ workers. If there is asset inflation you can have an unproductive business and still grow without doing anything of value. The latter is what many people object to. The former would benefit workers far more than it would benefit the rich. If your wages increase by 10% but Bill Gates' net worth merely catches up with inflation who gives a damn? If you can somehow double the income of the poorest members of society then you effectively cut the relative wealth of Bill Gates' in half. He has more to lose from expensive workers that demand reasonable salaries than he can gain from catching up with consumer inflation. >Generally speaking it is deflation that hurts asset holders and business owners. We have made desperate attempts since the financial crisis to stave off deflation and even then we're barely treading water. Financial assets and real property (and also silly things like paintings) have benefited but look at the price of oil ... look at the price of other basic commodities and services like shipping. That would be true if there was no central bank intervention. But the central bank is intervening in a way that gives the rich what they want without giving anything to the poor. Deflation on the asset side basically doesn't exist.

by rsync 6y ago

imtringued 6y ago

>Generally speaking inflation can be managed and avoided by asset holders and business owners. They can adjust their rents and prices to match the inflation in a way that wage earners and renters cannot. If there is consumer inflation you can't manage inflation in a way that doesn't productively employ workers. If there is asset inflation you can have an unproductive business and still grow without doing anything of value. The latter is what many people object to. The former would benefit workers far more than it would benefit the rich. If your wages increase by 10% but Bill Gates' net worth merely catches up with inflation who gives a damn? If you can somehow double the income of the poorest members of society then you effectively cut the relative wealth of Bill Gates' in half. He has more to lose from expensive workers that demand reasonable salaries than he can gain from catching up with consumer inflation. >Generally speaking it is deflation that hurts asset holders and business owners. We have made desperate attempts since the financial crisis to stave off deflation and even then we're barely treading water. Financial assets and real property (and also silly things like paintings) have benefited but look at the price of oil ... look at the price of other basic commodities and services like shipping. That would be true if there was no central bank intervention. But the central bank is intervening in a way that gives the rich what they want without giving anything to the poor. Deflation on the asset side basically doesn't exist.