I think we need a nice,controlled round of inflation about now.

hedgehog

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Tue Dec-08-09 02:13 PM
Original message

I think we need a nice,controlled round of inflation about now.

Edited on Tue Dec-08-09 02:14 PM by hedgehog

Seriously - there is too much paper wealth in the hand of too few people. If we can get wages up quickly to protect working people, then a nice round of inflation will redistribute some of the wealth. If you're paying 15% on a credit card debt or home mortgage it won't matter as much if the inflation rate is 8% and your wages go up.

Of course, the better option would be to raise the minimum wage so a single person can support a family of four above the poverty line and to limit interest rates. But this business of limiting inflation to 0% is this era's version of the gold standard.

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parts

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Tue Dec-08-09 02:18 PM
Response to Original message

1. no - it'd affect the poor most

wages would lag inflation, and fixed-income consumers would get whacked

further expansionary policies shouldn't have an inflationary impact, anyway, there's plenty of excess capacity with 10.8% unemployment

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OneTenthofOnePercent

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Tue Dec-08-09 02:19 PM
Response to Original message

2. And how would you propose we convince businesses to raise wages?

Edited on Tue Dec-08-09 02:20 PM by OneTenthofOnePercent

Most workers aren't in unions, not to mention the unions cant afford to strike right now.
Most people work slightly above minimum wage and many others are on fixed income.
The ONLY group this would help would be minimum wage workers in debt.

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hedgehog

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Tue Dec-08-09 02:25 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. I have no idea how to get wages uip, since IMO stagnant wages

Edited on Tue Dec-08-09 02:27 PM by hedgehog

are one of the reasons we've ended up here. Still, I think a lot of people are burdened with debt that they would never have taken on if they'd been paid properly in the first place. Assuming fixed interest rates, a nice round of inflation would reduce the debt load to something managable.

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sharp_stick

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Tue Dec-08-09 02:35 PM
Response to Original message

4. How do you propose controlling it?

Nasty thing about inflation, it tends to get out of hand pretty quick and destroy a lot of people.

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Tailormyst

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Tue Dec-08-09 02:39 PM
Response to Original message

5. Inflation would hurt those who spend 100% of their income on necessities the most.

There has to be a better way to fix things then to send the working class into deeper poverty.

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n2doc

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Tue Dec-08-09 03:04 PM
Response to Original message

6. look at gold. It is happening already

There is no automatic method for wages going up with inflation. Especially with the way the Government jimmys the inflation figures. The USA is in it's own bubble at the moment, and when/if it all collapses it will be sudden and not pretty.

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