War? NO WAR! Everybody talking "war" is talking through their hat. No economic reason... Exception... War involving Islamic Extremists... no sense to that, just religion.
well said, an orchestrated economy, orchestrated stock markets, guaranteed profits for the politicans or special interest groups?
NOT "well said".... "inflate by 5-10% to inflate away your debts?" Not a snowball's chance in Hell unless you want to bankrupt your citizenry. It's one of those things which seems to have "magic ring to it"... but it's as stupid a notion as any other stupid thing we've done.
someone else on this site pointed out, is that Ben really hasn't got a choice, if he doesn't inflate to save the stock markets, everyones pensions will go down the drain, but here is my thought, in doing so he's tampered with market forces which if left alone would lead to efficient allocation of resouces that lead to growth, by screwing up the systems, it can no longer grow, bc growth story co.s don't get the necessary investments they need, whereas valuable resources/investments get wasted on inefficient operations, a slow death of the economy?
So Mithos, this inflation and deflation at the same time...is that like speeding into a sharp curve, too fast into the apex, feeling your tail lighten up... and then...hit the gas and pull the handbrake? Mundell was found of saying that you can't hit two targets with one arrow...are you suggesting that we can hit one target by shooting two arrows in opposit directions? Are you using a quantity theory definition of money...inflation is more dollars than demand...deflation is less dollars than demand? If so, how do both happen at the same time? If you reject the quantity, Friedman monetarist definition, do you subscribe to a definition that relies on the index measures alone (what I call, 'eating the menue' theory; i.e., confusing the picture with the food), then how do we see the CPIs or the PCEs both rising and falling? Do you mean that sectors will diverge...say housing down, health care up, autos down, electronics down, materials down, education up...like that? Most folks who think that way confuse supply demand imbalance, the effect of government price control and monopoly support, seasonal or demographic statisitcal effects.. for inflation/deflaton...its not coexistence its just index compositon confusion; its a dysfunction of the index system of measurement...usually these imbalances, inconsistencies in the indexes, don't trend and don't last. There is a difference between an overarching inflation or deflation and the common noise of index component price behavior. You have to explain to me how you can construct a working theory of inflation and deflation as distinct phenomena and suggest that they can exist at the same time. Looks to me that you are just having some cognitive dissonance. I think you have to choose one. And Thurston, deficit spending matters very much in a deflation becuase the effect of deflation is to increase the carrying cost of accumulated debt while decreasing the receipt of nominal sovereign revenues use to pay that the sevice on that debt and meet promised entitlement spending...something will have to give if you can't steal and cheat with inflation. The big risk has been described by Williams at Shadowstat...its the arrogant keynesian orthodoxy, BP driller certainty, that increased debt and deficit to fund expanding fiscal stimulus by spending on the public sector carries no risk...exacts no cost...where is the economic blow off valve?
Deflation is the unmitigated disaster outcome. That is why the deficit and its service should be of little or no concern while we try to stop a full-on deflationary depression. Right now, the deficit and its service are the least of our problems, particularly as the sole-issuer of the non-convertible currency in which it is paid and serviced! The inflationists, mass media, tea partiers, etc. all yammer on and on about unsustainable deficit spending. It is almost as if they think we're still on the gold standard (many want to go back to it, lol). They want austerity measures for crissakes. Austerity measures with deflation looming? Preposterous and dangerous. When the patient is flat-lining, you don't worry about the medical bills that will be coming in the mail. My prescription? Cut corporate and capital gains taxes to nil and create a real jobs (make-work) program.