no one has a clue whether we will have deflation, disinflation, inflation or hyperinflation. During a depression, commodities usually tumble. But they are mainly down now since they went up so much recently. We are in uncharted territory, we are building massive amounts of debt, jobs are disappearing at over 600,000 a month, nobody is lending and whatever happens, it probably will be a disaster for years to come That is about the only certainty... Inflation is about our only hope of shrinking the massive debt. But who knows. If only the federal govt had the same requirement to balance the budget each year as some cities and states...
We almost did... the 1987, "Gramm, Rudman, Hollings Act"... signed into law, but when it came time to abide by it they said, "this ain't no fun" and chucked it into the trash. Why bother to pass laws at all if they can just be dismissed whenever inconvenient?
Agreed. There is nothing the government can do about because the market is saturated, meaning that the market has been providing too much of goods and services so that there are more of these goods and services available than there are people who want to buy them. What the government has been doing so far was to stop the bleeding of financial panic, not something that can artificially avoid the recession. Recession is a recession, period. You can't give away your 3 years old car or TV and buy a new one, unless it is necessary.
It's possible to have both inflation and deflation. For example, has anyone noticed their food bills going down? Nope, because they're going higher. Jet Skis, and fancy goods are going down in value.
I think it is clearly just a matter of time till the gov either takes over some major banks or starts their own, and gets the money flowing to the public again.
If you are interested in what the results are of printing more money then you need look no further than Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. Last I heard there was a banknote with a face value of 20 billion dollars and it couldn't buy a loaf of bread !! Better ask the Amish how they manage with barter and no slick bankers imho The sods responsible for this MESS don't seem at all worried that someone is going to call them to any sort of account. Al Capone or the Joker couldn't have managed this current heist better and noone seems to care !! Personally I reckon they should be stripped of every dollar/asset they own, right down to their dirty under-pants and then flogged in public.
These threads are always an entertaining read as every armchair economist - and I use that term very lightly - come out to tell us how all of this is going to end. But it makes for fun reading.