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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>>…</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Clark<br><b>Subject:</b> [ExI] Inflation graph<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>For those who think that inflation in the USA is the most important economic problem in the world today and is so high that every effort, no matter how draconian, should be used to decrease it, take a look at this graph: <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/27/business/economy/inflation-falls.html?ref=economy">http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/27/business/economy/inflation-falls.html?ref=economy</a><br><br><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <span style='color:#1F497D'>>…</span>John K Clark<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>On the contrary sir. The comment itself presupposes that inflation is some kind of fiat number somehow dictated by some central power somewhere. A more accurate description is a number which is derived by governments to describe what exists. If reduced to one number, it does throw away some important subtleties. An analogy would be to derive a number to express how fast plants grow. How would you do that? Once you have a way to express in one number how fast plants grow, you are ready to derive a single number to describe inflation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Once you figure out a way to do these things, you are ready to command by some means the rate of plant growth and the rate of inflation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Some have suggested that we can artificially raise inflation by printing money without any wealth behind it. This does create inflation, but only the particular currency of the nation that attempts it, as was seen in Weimar Germany and in Zimbabwe. I recommend a cheaper way of doing that: just use Zimbabwe money. It is already printed and available in larger denominations, it is already printed on high quality paper, etc, and costs less than the raw paper used in printing American money, since it is already soiled by ink with lots of zeros on it. Had the people of Zimbabwe been more aware of the concept of exponents, their government’s game could have still been operable to this day, for their currency would not have run out of room to add more zeroes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>John, we do not control inflation. The government does not control inflation. It does derive a single number, an average of sorts, to try to describe it, but note that manufactured goods have been deflating for some time, while fuel and food prices have risen sharply, while labor prices, and ESPECIALLY medical insurance prices, have inflated dramatically at the same time. So I ask you sir, what is the current inflation rate? What does that chart you provided actually describe?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></body></html>