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1860-1900 most certainly was not "pretty good" for people living then. Read some. The Long Depression [1] saw nearly 20,000 businesses fail, ten states went ban

1860-1900 most certainly was not "pretty good" for people living then. Read some. The Long Depression [1] saw nearly 20,000 businesses fail, ten states went bankrupt, unemployment soared, some places saw 25 percent unemployed. Multiple panics destroyed significant assets. The period was so bad that it directly led to creating the Fed because the people wanted the uncertainty and suffering to stop. > Countries chose inflation because it's less obvious way to tax people I think you're missing significant understanding about money and inflation. Explain carefully how inflation taxes people to the benefit of the govt. Your explanation should carefully distinguish between the Fed and the Treasury, the three methods the Fed used to influence the rate, the laws and accounting both use. I'm pretty sure you have no idea, and are simply making up ghost stories to cover misunderstandings. So, explain the process. Because I do know in detail how these pieces fit, and nothing like your beliefs occur. So you explain it. Oh, and by the way, inflation helps nearly anyone with debt such a college loans, car loans, or mortgages, because it lowers effective payments. Given most people have more debt than cash as savings, inflation helps borrowers and costs lenders. Think about that a bit [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression

orwin 4y ago
Don't bother, everytime it is the same argument from people who don't bother even looking at Wikipedia (not talking about opening an history book).
- ChrisLomont 4y ago
  Yeah, but it's interesting seeing how far they go to rationalize untenable positions in the face of evidence :) And others, like you perhaps, read the content and learn something useful.
throwawaymaths 4y ago
Honestly the description of the horrors you provide could apply to any 50 year period of us history. So if it's all the same, how about we don't fucking steal from the poor to give to the rich? > Oh, and by the way, inflation helps nearly anyone with debt such a college loans, car loans, or mortgages, because it lowers effective payments Only if you are getting pay raises. We know the workers return on productivity has stagnated since 1970. Why do you love stealing from the poor? Lowering the cost to borrow by volume mostly helps finance: big corporate bonds, and financial instruments like shorts and options. Think about that for a bit.
- ChrisLomont 4y ago
  >So if it's all the same It's not the same, as the evidence I just posted proves. That you don't care to learn it is telling. The string evidence that things were worse is what led every country to switch to central banking. Or are you that much smarter than every economist and banker on the planet? Maybe you should post a paper with your evidence. Overturning over a century of data across hundreds of countries would make you famous. >Only if you are getting pay raises. We know the workers return on productivity has stagnated since 1970 First, the "only if you are getting pay raises" is false. It would depend on the loan and wage. Also, your two claims do not even make logical sense. Either they got pay raises or incomes did not remain flat. (Hint: they got pay raises, AND they got increases in total remuneration, which includes things besides wages. And yes, wages are flat, but remuneration and total cost to employ (both data series the BLS tracks which you can check yourself) have increased). Want proof of all this? It took me one google of "do wages match inflation over time", and this [1] from the first page provides historical graphs showing exactly what I claimed. So yes, people did get raises to match inflation (which is trivially checkable), their effective loan payments did decrease. Please at least put in some effort to check the numerical evidence before you post more stuff you just pull from god knows where. >Lowering the cost to borrow by volume mostly helps finance: big corporate bonds, and financial instruments like shorts and options You apparently have no idea the difference between cost to borrow and inflation. The cost to borrow is the interest rate - no one knows future inflation well enough to make a loan with such wizardry. Higher than expected inflation simply helps borrowers and costs lenders. Inflation the other direction works in the opposite direction. But cost to borrow and inflation are completely different things. Since you're just making stuff up, please provide decent sources (not opinion blogs - decent polling or data places are good) for any further claims. You're too untrustworthy for me to waste more time on. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us...

orwin 4y ago

Don't bother, everytime it is the same argument from people who don't bother even looking at Wikipedia (not talking about opening an history book).

ChrisLomont 4y ago
Yeah, but it's interesting seeing how far they go to rationalize untenable positions in the face of evidence :) And others, like you perhaps, read the content and learn something useful.

throwawaymaths 4y ago

Honestly the description of the horrors you provide could apply to any 50 year period of us history. So if it's all the same, how about we don't fucking steal from the poor to give to the rich? > Oh, and by the way, inflation helps nearly anyone with debt such a college loans, car loans, or mortgages, because it lowers effective payments Only if you are getting pay raises. We know the workers return on productivity has stagnated since 1970. Why do you love stealing from the poor? Lowering the cost to borrow by volume mostly helps finance: big corporate bonds, and financial instruments like shorts and options. Think about that for a bit.

ChrisLomont 4y ago
>So if it's all the same It's not the same, as the evidence I just posted proves. That you don't care to learn it is telling. The string evidence that things were worse is what led every country to switch to central banking. Or are you that much smarter than every economist and banker on the planet? Maybe you should post a paper with your evidence. Overturning over a century of data across hundreds of countries would make you famous. >Only if you are getting pay raises. We know the workers return on productivity has stagnated since 1970 First, the "only if you are getting pay raises" is false. It would depend on the loan and wage. Also, your two claims do not even make logical sense. Either they got pay raises or incomes did not remain flat. (Hint: they got pay raises, AND they got increases in total remuneration, which includes things besides wages. And yes, wages are flat, but remuneration and total cost to employ (both data series the BLS tracks which you can check yourself) have increased). Want proof of all this? It took me one google of "do wages match inflation over time", and this [1] from the first page provides historical graphs showing exactly what I claimed. So yes, people did get raises to match inflation (which is trivially checkable), their effective loan payments did decrease. Please at least put in some effort to check the numerical evidence before you post more stuff you just pull from god knows where. >Lowering the cost to borrow by volume mostly helps finance: big corporate bonds, and financial instruments like shorts and options You apparently have no idea the difference between cost to borrow and inflation. The cost to borrow is the interest rate - no one knows future inflation well enough to make a loan with such wizardry. Higher than expected inflation simply helps borrowers and costs lenders. Inflation the other direction works in the opposite direction. But cost to borrow and inflation are completely different things. Since you're just making stuff up, please provide decent sources (not opinion blogs - decent polling or data places are good) for any further claims. You're too untrustworthy for me to waste more time on. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us...