[ExI] John's idea

[John Clark]

On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 12:42 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:



> ​> ​
> Not at all.  I have some.  Bill Gates has some, the citizen of Niger has
> some.  But none of that is “the wealth”
>

​"The wealth" is the sum total of everybody's wealth.​



> ​>​
> > There is a common belief that nations may print money without borrowing
> someone else’s wealth to back it.
>
> It makes sense to borrow money because a dollar today has always be
​en​
worth more than a dollar tomorrow, and with technology cranking up the
wealth generating machinery into high gear
​, and doing so​
​at an accelerating rate, ​
that
​'​
s more true now than it has ever been. In the USA the money borrowed has
always been payed back, there was never any question that they wouldn't
​,​
and that's why loaning money to the USA was considered the safest
investment in the world. And then one day the Republicans came within 45
minutes of defaulting on its debt, and the next day I officially changed my
party affiliation from Republican to Democrat
​ and haven't voted for a republican since.  ​



> ​> ​
> Just print more, which is to say, go ahead and debase the currency as
> needed.


​The USA has "debased" its currency almost every year since 1835,
​and yet we're still doing OK. How come? Because with a few notable
​exceptions the money printing press and the increase in wealth have more
or less stayed in sync.

​> ​
> Plenty of nations around the world do that.  Zimbabwe, Venezuela,
> Argentina come to mind.


​And some nations don't, the USA didn't "debase" the currency in 1929,
instead they dramatically tightened the money supply turning a garden
variety recession into a global economic meltdown. The USA did "debase" the
currency somewhat in 2008, they should have debased it more, if they had
the recovery from the Great Recession would have been faster.

John K Clark   ​
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