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Yes and no - unless the cost of food, gas, electricity, housing and clothing also increased by 25%, it's hard to argue the dollar is worth 25% less. Come to th

Yes and no - unless the cost of food, gas, electricity, housing and clothing also increased by 25%, it's hard to argue the dollar is worth 25% less. Come to think of it - if the things that are predominantly bought by the 1% are devalued by 25% due to stimulus increasing the supply of money, but the things that are bought by everyone are not becoming much more expensive, isn't that empirical proof that trickle down economics doesn't work?

09bjb 6y ago
Yes and...crucially, assets are 25% more expensive to buy. I.e. if assets are things that are "bought by everyone" and not just by the 1% or .0001%, then the dollar is worth 20% less for that purpose.
briefcomment 6y ago
Good point on your second statement. On your first statement, it's less that the dollar is not losing value, and more that scarce items are gaining value compared to non-scarce things. So your Netflix subscription is staying the same, but the house near the coast has doubled. Inflation is never the same across the board. All it means is that a smaller group of people are laying claim to the scarcest items, and they are crowding out the hopes of an increasing number of people to one day be able to afford those scarce items.
onlyrealcuzzo 6y ago
Most commodities like corn & lumber & gold - are up over 25%. Consumer prices don't change as fast. It will be interesting to see if commodity prices go down, or how much of the increase is passed on to consumers. In the US - 41% of electricity generation is mostly debt-financed - Nuclear and renewables - which is cheaper because of the Fed setting the price of debt. Another 40% is natural gas, which is also getting cheaper because its production is largely financed with debt - which is also set by the Fed. So the price of electricity & housing is largely price fixed by The Fed. I would expect inflation there to stay "stubbornly low" indefinitely.

09bjb 6y ago

Yes and...crucially, assets are 25% more expensive to buy. I.e. if assets are things that are "bought by everyone" and not just by the 1% or .0001%, then the dollar is worth 20% less for that purpose.

briefcomment 6y ago

Good point on your second statement. On your first statement, it's less that the dollar is not losing value, and more that scarce items are gaining value compared to non-scarce things. So your Netflix subscription is staying the same, but the house near the coast has doubled. Inflation is never the same across the board. All it means is that a smaller group of people are laying claim to the scarcest items, and they are crowding out the hopes of an increasing number of people to one day be able to afford those scarce items.

onlyrealcuzzo 6y ago

Most commodities like corn & lumber & gold - are up over 25%. Consumer prices don't change as fast. It will be interesting to see if commodity prices go down, or how much of the increase is passed on to consumers. In the US - 41% of electricity generation is mostly debt-financed - Nuclear and renewables - which is cheaper because of the Fed setting the price of debt. Another 40% is natural gas, which is also getting cheaper because its production is largely financed with debt - which is also set by the Fed. So the price of electricity & housing is largely price fixed by The Fed. I would expect inflation there to stay "stubbornly low" indefinitely.