Tuesday, August 30, 2011

THE INFLATIONARY GENII: Minutes: Fed Weighed Asset Purchases - WSJ.com

Minutes: Fed Weighed Asset Purchases - WSJ.com

Or, as is getting more and more media time - including on Bloomberg's Tom Keene - is the idea of targeting something like nominal GDP.

In other words, since the policies of the government inhibit reasonable investing, go back to the cook the numbers game. Make it seem as though things are growing. Flood the economy with money. Inflate away all debt (i.e. do it very quickly and Bill Gross was premature, but not wrong about Treasuries).

The relationship between saver and borrower has clearly been sundered. In the early 1980s it was at least discussed as an issue of 'crowding out' and the possible need (as a last resort) to print money.

Now, the only question is how much to print and when.

I recall a story a friend told me once about a musician in Wiemar Germany during the inflation of the early 1920s.

The man had performed one night and took half his money earned that night to buy dinner, saving the other half for breakfast. In the morning, his money had lost so much value that he couldn't afford any breakfast.

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