4 ms·

Poverty is more than an financial state. Giving away money to move someone from just below the poverty line - which is artificially low - to just above that lin

Poverty is more than an financial state. Giving away money to move someone from just below the poverty line - which is artificially low - to just above that line is honorable, but "curing" poverty is not that simple. Unfortunately, articles like this help the myth persist. More political magician-y mumbo jumbo. It's also important to ask: at what cost? If these monies were financed by printing more money, then that's a form of tax. It discounts all other money in circulation. Who does that hurt the most? No doubt something should be done. Poverty is a cruel and unnecessary disease. But printing money...a one off??? Let's not over sell this. Unfortunately.

45yu56bwedfg 5y ago
Money is always printed. The only difference is how fast we inflate the current supply, not that we inflate it. Inflation is a function of the system itself. Its fundamental. Poverty is a desired outcome of this system.
- clavalle 5y ago
  Keeping money moving is the desired outcome of inflation. Spending money isn't what keeps people in poverty.
- imtringued 5y ago
  This argument is absurd. Inflation is high right now and it's because people are getting higher wages. I just can't comprehend how people have become this stupid. the 80s neoliberal policy package was intentionally aimed at killing inflation in response to the oil crisis. The way they reduced inflation is through global trade, destroying unions and deregulation. All of this was to make sure that negotiation power of workers dropped like a rock and inflation followed wages. Low wage growth lead to low inflation. A money system with low inflation or even deflation systematically undervalues present labor for the benefit of the holders of the biggest share of money. Someone who spends all their money massively benefits from wage increases and therefore inflation. Just look at Bitcoin. If you own $100k of Bitcoin and it goes up 10x you will be a millionaire. If you only own $1000 then you only get $10000. It's rigged in favor of the already rich and rigged against those who are poor. Literally every time someone talks about raising wages people use the inflation counter argument. "If we pay people more it would drive price increases and therefore inflation". People take this shit for granted and then when they complain they talk about how 2% inflation is eating away at the $500 they have in their bank account and don't even consider that 2% inflation eats away at someone with $1 million in their bank account. Let me tell you what saving in monetary terms does. It's just reducing your demand for labor. Labor cannot be stored. You either use it or lose it. Your insistence to not spend your money has to be balanced by letting the unpaid party take on debt in hope that you spend your money one day. So excessive saving is what drives excessive debt, not some stupid moral sense of irresponsibility. The alternative would be to keep the unpaid party unemployed and unemployment is a pretty obvious driver of poverty. Don't make the mistake of thinking that saving lets the bank lend. No, the supply of credit is infinite. The only limit is the availability of solvent borrowers.
munk-a 5y ago
Inflation always directly hurts those with the most the most by value alone - but it can specifically cause hardships to those who are in some critical point where an extra dollar could cause a dramatic increase in quality of life. I think most proposals around sustaining this benefit in the long term don't rely on pure monetary creation but instead would shift it to a budget item that is directly funded by taxes (which in theory can be better targeted to hit those with excess)

45yu56bwedfg 5y ago

Money is always printed. The only difference is how fast we inflate the current supply, not that we inflate it. Inflation is a function of the system itself. Its fundamental. Poverty is a desired outcome of this system.

clavalle 5y ago
Keeping money moving is the desired outcome of inflation. Spending money isn't what keeps people in poverty.
imtringued 5y ago
This argument is absurd. Inflation is high right now and it's because people are getting higher wages. I just can't comprehend how people have become this stupid. the 80s neoliberal policy package was intentionally aimed at killing inflation in response to the oil crisis. The way they reduced inflation is through global trade, destroying unions and deregulation. All of this was to make sure that negotiation power of workers dropped like a rock and inflation followed wages. Low wage growth lead to low inflation. A money system with low inflation or even deflation systematically undervalues present labor for the benefit of the holders of the biggest share of money. Someone who spends all their money massively benefits from wage increases and therefore inflation. Just look at Bitcoin. If you own $100k of Bitcoin and it goes up 10x you will be a millionaire. If you only own $1000 then you only get $10000. It's rigged in favor of the already rich and rigged against those who are poor. Literally every time someone talks about raising wages people use the inflation counter argument. "If we pay people more it would drive price increases and therefore inflation". People take this shit for granted and then when they complain they talk about how 2% inflation is eating away at the $500 they have in their bank account and don't even consider that 2% inflation eats away at someone with $1 million in their bank account. Let me tell you what saving in monetary terms does. It's just reducing your demand for labor. Labor cannot be stored. You either use it or lose it. Your insistence to not spend your money has to be balanced by letting the unpaid party take on debt in hope that you spend your money one day. So excessive saving is what drives excessive debt, not some stupid moral sense of irresponsibility. The alternative would be to keep the unpaid party unemployed and unemployment is a pretty obvious driver of poverty. Don't make the mistake of thinking that saving lets the bank lend. No, the supply of credit is infinite. The only limit is the availability of solvent borrowers.

munk-a 5y ago

Inflation always directly hurts those with the most the most by value alone - but it can specifically cause hardships to those who are in some critical point where an extra dollar could cause a dramatic increase in quality of life. I think most proposals around sustaining this benefit in the long term don't rely on pure monetary creation but instead would shift it to a budget item that is directly funded by taxes (which in theory can be better targeted to hit those with excess)