4 ms·

Libertarian types don't have a preference for high interest rates because they have savings. They have a preference for the interest rate to be set by the marke

Libertarian types don't have a preference for high interest rates because they have savings. They have a preference for the interest rate to be set by the market freely, instead of being intentionally manipulated up and down by central planners and causing havoc in the economy. The reason they currently support higher rates is twofold: 1) The Fed has kept rates artificially low for an irresponsibly long period of time, leading to inflation and other economic distortions, and 2) The only way to get inflation (which is pernicious) under control is with higher rates.

dmn322 4y ago
You can control inflation with taxes, and it's a more fiscally responsible way to do it. As for "irresponsibly low" and "(which is pernicious)"... these are your value judgements that you've arrived at based on your perspective. That's fine, but other people have other perspectives. To someone with debt who wants a well-lubricated economy, or to someone who makes money off of exports, it's not irresponsible at all. If you look at the history of fed rates vs unemployment and recessions, it's a very clear trend that the fed rate has to stay lower longer for a recovery, and it takes less raising of the rates to put us back in a recession. Why would this be? Maybe because it's not the appropriate tool to be using to control inflation. Maybe it's not because the fed is being irresponsible, but it's doing what it has to to keep the economy afloat and that's less and less effective because the country refuses to do what it has to, which is raise taxes on the rich.
- SamPatt 4y ago
  What field of economic thought leads you to claim that inflation can (and should) be controlled by taxing the rich? This is an unusual claim, to say the least.
  - rsync 4y ago
    "What field of economic thought leads you to claim that inflation can (and should) be controlled by taxing the rich?" Not "the rich" per se, but he is speaking of MMT[1] which maintains that the government of a sovereign printer (sorry, Argentina) does not need taxes at all because they don't "need" the money. MMT purports that money is created by "printing" it into existence and money is destroyed by taxing it away. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory
  - dmn322 4y ago
    When the federal reserve loans money to banks, where does that money come from? When the federal government pays its debt to the federal reserve, where does that money go?
- rsync 4y ago
  "You can control inflation with taxes, and it's a more fiscally responsible way to do it." There is an interesting and compelling theory that you can control inflation with taxes (broadly, MMT[1]) but the cautious and (in my opinion) warranted skepticism that you voice, upthread, about prevailing economic theories should be extended to MMT as well. We don't really know if money supply creation via "printing" and the corresponding destruction via taxation will work just as MMT suggests it will. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory
imtringued 4y ago
Even Fisher Black admits that there is a currency trap at 0% and he doesn't mean that the problem is that the interest rate is too low but rather that the zero lower bound is like a minimum price control that constraints the formation of interest rates and he basically predicted what the IMF blog Said about this resulting in cash and electronic bank accounts ending up with an exchange rate between them.

dmn322 4y ago

You can control inflation with taxes, and it's a more fiscally responsible way to do it. As for "irresponsibly low" and "(which is pernicious)"... these are your value judgements that you've arrived at based on your perspective. That's fine, but other people have other perspectives. To someone with debt who wants a well-lubricated economy, or to someone who makes money off of exports, it's not irresponsible at all. If you look at the history of fed rates vs unemployment and recessions, it's a very clear trend that the fed rate has to stay lower longer for a recovery, and it takes less raising of the rates to put us back in a recession. Why would this be? Maybe because it's not the appropriate tool to be using to control inflation. Maybe it's not because the fed is being irresponsible, but it's doing what it has to to keep the economy afloat and that's less and less effective because the country refuses to do what it has to, which is raise taxes on the rich.

SamPatt 4y ago
What field of economic thought leads you to claim that inflation can (and should) be controlled by taxing the rich? This is an unusual claim, to say the least.
- rsync 4y ago
  "What field of economic thought leads you to claim that inflation can (and should) be controlled by taxing the rich?" Not "the rich" per se, but he is speaking of MMT[1] which maintains that the government of a sovereign printer (sorry, Argentina) does not need taxes at all because they don't "need" the money. MMT purports that money is created by "printing" it into existence and money is destroyed by taxing it away. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory
- dmn322 4y ago
  When the federal reserve loans money to banks, where does that money come from? When the federal government pays its debt to the federal reserve, where does that money go?
rsync 4y ago
"You can control inflation with taxes, and it's a more fiscally responsible way to do it." There is an interesting and compelling theory that you can control inflation with taxes (broadly, MMT[1]) but the cautious and (in my opinion) warranted skepticism that you voice, upthread, about prevailing economic theories should be extended to MMT as well. We don't really know if money supply creation via "printing" and the corresponding destruction via taxation will work just as MMT suggests it will. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory

imtringued 4y ago

Even Fisher Black admits that there is a currency trap at 0% and he doesn't mean that the problem is that the interest rate is too low but rather that the zero lower bound is like a minimum price control that constraints the formation of interest rates and he basically predicted what the IMF blog Said about this resulting in cash and electronic bank accounts ending up with an exchange rate between them.