4 ms·

I’ll do my best to be useful, with the caveat that “monetary policy” is like, a PhD at a good school and industry experience and stuff, it’s a big field. To ad

I’ll do my best to be useful, with the caveat that “monetary policy” is like, a PhD at a good school and industry experience and stuff, it’s a big field. To address the particular point that he was replying to: the government (especially the US government) has only one money problem: does anyone lend them money (buy their bonds) when they’re picky about terms (floor on auction optionally) at an acceptable overall outcome (you still believe I can invade your country if you fuck around on USD). So it’s simpler and faster and the math is easier to just burn all the checks the IRS gets and make new ones at the Fed. Which is the same solution as all the games landed on.

DeathArrow 3y ago
Well, money printing is taxation.
- Workaccount2 3y ago
  Only if it isn't offset by raw economic growth.
  - benreesman 3y ago
    Technically incorrect in nitpick ways but substantially the best intuition: the job of politicians and regulators rounds to: “match the growth of the money supply to people using skills to generate yet another round of speculative but self-fulfilling growth projections with the least amount of dumb rich kids having important jobs”. To me at least, this sounds like a hard job in Athens with the Bundesbank pardon the ECB breathing down your neck, and a trivially easy job in Washington DC where you can physically destroy anyone who disagrees with your assertions about the value of anything. Unfortunately the actual job has become: “maximize class solidarity at any cost up to and including arbitrary bloodshed”.
- benreesman 3y ago
  No, a thousand times no. Inflation wipes out the notional value of debts and therefore favors the 80-90% of people whose finances are dominated by a debt term. At the low end of being lucky that debt term is unsecured dollar-valued debt like a credit card. At the high end misguided boomers acting against their own interest owe that debt as a 30 fixed secured by a home. The subset of boomers (or wannabe YC insiders) who suffer at the hands of inflation are fucking vocal but statistically irrelevant. The ratio of actual financialization of actual asset classes to people who whinge about “inflation” is maybe the stupidest thing said stupidly constantly.

DeathArrow 3y ago

Well, money printing is taxation.

Workaccount2 3y ago
Only if it isn't offset by raw economic growth.
- benreesman 3y ago
  Technically incorrect in nitpick ways but substantially the best intuition: the job of politicians and regulators rounds to: “match the growth of the money supply to people using skills to generate yet another round of speculative but self-fulfilling growth projections with the least amount of dumb rich kids having important jobs”. To me at least, this sounds like a hard job in Athens with the Bundesbank pardon the ECB breathing down your neck, and a trivially easy job in Washington DC where you can physically destroy anyone who disagrees with your assertions about the value of anything. Unfortunately the actual job has become: “maximize class solidarity at any cost up to and including arbitrary bloodshed”.
benreesman 3y ago
No, a thousand times no. Inflation wipes out the notional value of debts and therefore favors the 80-90% of people whose finances are dominated by a debt term. At the low end of being lucky that debt term is unsecured dollar-valued debt like a credit card. At the high end misguided boomers acting against their own interest owe that debt as a 30 fixed secured by a home. The subset of boomers (or wannabe YC insiders) who suffer at the hands of inflation are fucking vocal but statistically irrelevant. The ratio of actual financialization of actual asset classes to people who whinge about “inflation” is maybe the stupidest thing said stupidly constantly.