If the baby boomers sell their houses to downsize/retirement communities, housing prices should drop further. Also.. the baby boomer phenomenon occurred worldwide. Not just the US. I suppose the younger generation has that to look forward to.
Deflation is a good thing. It's called the business cycle (boom and bust). Charlatans and Central Bankers attempt to keep us in a perpetual inflationary spiral to appease bankers and investment banks (a politically protected class) who are the most injured by asset deflation. The shrill warnings of catastrophe if deflation is allowed to take root are utter nonsense. Notice the retards only tout the pitfalls of deflation (growing debt burden), but never the benefits - falling consumer and real estate prices. Falling consumer prices helps every single one of us, and improves our standard of living. Not to mention, every boom is followed by a corrective bust. Only until 2008, did Central Bankers arrogantly decide to redefine the business cycle , and inflate the dollar away forever. A total fools errand.
... because they hold too much of the worthless debt on their books as "assets" or retained earnings or capital ratios. They have the most leverage and those with the most leverage have the most to lose in deflation. Cash is King. Mostly IMO, the Central Bankers use the threat of deflation to justify more inflation to help out mainstreet. I honestly think that they don't believe it can really happen here due to their fiat money manipulations. I suspect that the velocity of money troubles them a lot - http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MULT Those with real assets have little to fear from deflation or inflation. Those with paper, debt, or high leverage have a lot to fear from it. The more real assets a bank has, the less lending it can do. Bankers live in a world of paper assets, yet one needs collateral to get a loan for real assets. If their lending slows, they can't grow unless they hypothecate or self-securitize or something like that. Mainstreet lives on real stuff, bankers live on paper stuff - just like sharks they must keep moving forward or die. Growth is needed to justify the risk and keep things going. Just my thoughts. BTW, I don't think you should be dissing Charlatans - at least they have some value as entertainers. (LOL.)
Silly question! - of course they can, look at the sound, swift, decisive action taken by central bankers in Japan to combat Japanese deflation (in 1989). That is their model for the US today. Oh wait, Is Japan copying the successful US model for today by using QE? Some confusion in the media as to who is leading and who is following but we all know they will win eventually because they know what they are doing, are decisive, and are planning what we have, right? I wonder, if I was willing to do anything to right the financial ship, had G20 full support governments backing and unlimited money printing in multiple countries, and even kick-started everything off with TARP, TWIST, and QE would I lead the world to where we are today? Would you? Is anyone really in charge here? Do they know what they are doing? Stay tuned for all the answers in the next exciting episode ...... of as the stomach churns .....
"http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MULT" when velocity of money goes to historical norms inflation will skyrocket. ' I don't think you should be dissing Charlatans - at least they have some value as entertainers." as if ET posters who diss so called charlatans are capable of differentiating them from the "real" thing.
Bankers and investment banks suffer the most from deflation? How does that work exactly, achilles? As to the falling prices, it's only a benefit if your wages don't fall or fall slower than prices, innit? What if your wages actually fall faster, is it still a benefit?
We agree 100% except on the word IF not WHEN. Large inflation could happen if the VOM turns in a big way. The FED said they could handle that inflation should it happen. (So we can all rest easy.) However, the VOM itself has a limit on the downside as well. If we reach that point first (and it appears to me currently that we are heading there) then serious consequences will happen IMO. Sadly, the people who would have known most about this stuff are long dead and buried. They were the ones thinking about it in the great depression as it was called in 1925. I would have loved to talk to them about deflation to make my investing decisions easier.