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>I seriously doubt investors will prefer to hold US dollars Well, with all due respect, what you doubt doesn't really matter. We're watching it happen. Why w

>I seriously doubt investors will prefer to hold US dollars Well, with all due respect, what you doubt doesn't really matter. We're watching it happen. Why would I buy bonds with a negative real yield when I can hold appreciating dollars risk free? Again, this concerns the system as a whole. Don't underestimate how important the V in MV = PT is. >Wages are sticky. Right. So people get fired to bring costs down, instead of everyone taking a little less. >When I'm on a fixed income, If you're on a fixed income with no debt, then you love deflation. Your dollars buy more goods. >Money printing is the genesis of hyperinflation Excess money printing is the genesis of hyperinflation. So, again, the problem is determining where that "excess" line is. One indicator of that is rising prices, which we don't see. Are you calling for hyperinflation? If so, when?

m52go 12y ago
> Why would I buy bonds with a negative real yield when I can hold appreciating dollars risk free? You're right, so let me back up my position from a market-based perspective: security. That's why negative yields can exist in the first place. An appreciating dollar doesn't matter if the dollar can't be trusted. > So people get fired to bring costs down, instead of everyone taking a little less. Fair point. Like I said, this is a longer-term issue with deflation. Remember, the economy moves in 3-5 year cycles. Nothing lasts forever, neither inflation nor deflation. > If you're on a fixed income with no debt, then you love deflation. Even if you have debt, I argue you'd still love deflation, as illustrated in my last comment. > One indicator of that is rising prices, which we don't see. O RLY? Do you pay for food, energy, and...stuff, in general? Are prices going up, or are they going down? Gas is down for now, but it'll be right back up in no time. Don't look at the official numbers. They changed the method of calculating inflation to make it seem lower. Look at reality. And remember, this increase in prices is happening IN SPITE of gains in productivity (which is deflationary). Look, I agree "excessive" isn't easy to define on the topic of money-printing. As you said, there's no model to tell us what's right or wrong. But I don't know how it can be considered appropriate to create money out of thin air to fund the vast majority of your obligations (well over 50% of US debt is monetized). The economic benefits that have been proposed as a result of this policy haven't appeared. Yet they keep pushing forward with more and more. It just isn't right. That might sound like a weak statement, but take it as a statement grounded in the unflappable strength of morality.
- hnnewguy 12y ago
  >Don't look at the official numbers. They changed the method of calculating inflation to make it seem lower. Look at reality They change the method, then retroactively recalculate the values, because our basket of consumed goods changes over time. The way the CPI numbers are calculated are free for anyone to look at, and they closely match the Billion Price Project. There is no conspiracy. >The economic benefits that have been proposed as a result of this policy haven't appeared I'm not sure how you can say that. If you ask me, the policy has been successful, despite massive political pushback. Again, that's the tough part of economics; it's very hard to separate all the conflating effects of a specific policy.

m52go 12y ago

> Why would I buy bonds with a negative real yield when I can hold appreciating dollars risk free? You're right, so let me back up my position from a market-based perspective: security. That's why negative yields can exist in the first place. An appreciating dollar doesn't matter if the dollar can't be trusted. > So people get fired to bring costs down, instead of everyone taking a little less. Fair point. Like I said, this is a longer-term issue with deflation. Remember, the economy moves in 3-5 year cycles. Nothing lasts forever, neither inflation nor deflation. > If you're on a fixed income with no debt, then you love deflation. Even if you have debt, I argue you'd still love deflation, as illustrated in my last comment. > One indicator of that is rising prices, which we don't see. O RLY? Do you pay for food, energy, and...stuff, in general? Are prices going up, or are they going down? Gas is down for now, but it'll be right back up in no time. Don't look at the official numbers. They changed the method of calculating inflation to make it seem lower. Look at reality. And remember, this increase in prices is happening IN SPITE of gains in productivity (which is deflationary). Look, I agree "excessive" isn't easy to define on the topic of money-printing. As you said, there's no model to tell us what's right or wrong. But I don't know how it can be considered appropriate to create money out of thin air to fund the vast majority of your obligations (well over 50% of US debt is monetized). The economic benefits that have been proposed as a result of this policy haven't appeared. Yet they keep pushing forward with more and more. It just isn't right. That might sound like a weak statement, but take it as a statement grounded in the unflappable strength of morality.

hnnewguy 12y ago
>Don't look at the official numbers. They changed the method of calculating inflation to make it seem lower. Look at reality They change the method, then retroactively recalculate the values, because our basket of consumed goods changes over time. The way the CPI numbers are calculated are free for anyone to look at, and they closely match the Billion Price Project. There is no conspiracy. >The economic benefits that have been proposed as a result of this policy haven't appeared I'm not sure how you can say that. If you ask me, the policy has been successful, despite massive political pushback. Again, that's the tough part of economics; it's very hard to separate all the conflating effects of a specific policy.