tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897997766931633186.post5387662708067606996..comments2024-02-14T03:21:37.506-05:00Comments on Monetary Freedom: Tamny 2Bill Woolseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06330232724290161369noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897997766931633186.post-9460623779076034962013-03-17T02:11:21.734-04:002013-03-17T02:11:21.734-04:00Bill-
I always enjoy your intelligent commentary....Bill-<br /><br />I always enjoy your intelligent commentary.<br /><br />Perhaps I am just too timid to go "all out" and embrace monetary freedom. <br /><br />I believe a sovereign nation has some powers, pertaining to justice, national security and printing money. <br /><br />As a practical matter, I worry that a private banking system, when stressed, would lack the gravity and authority to make things right. <br /><br />Really, are the guys at AIG or LTCM or Bear Stearns or Citigroup really the type you want in control of printing money?<br /><br />So, as a practical matter I am a Market Monetarist, though I am open to re-configuring the FOMC to represent a broad range of industries, or doing away entirely with the FOMC, and having a Fed Chief appointed by the US President, for coterminous service. <br /><br />As a voter, if I don't like macroeconomic policy, how do I vote now?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Benjamin Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14001038338873263877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897997766931633186.post-11826038080539701222013-03-15T10:49:45.244-04:002013-03-15T10:49:45.244-04:00I think deflation is just fine when it reflects im...I think deflation is just fine when it reflects improved productivity.<br /><br />With the sort of privatized monetary order I favor, if people hoard currency under the mattress, they are still lending money to banks, which in turn lend money to fund real consumption and investment spending by other households and firms.<br /><br />The "problem" of excessive deflation would occure if the banks issuing currency could only earn low nominal yields and found issuing currency unprofitable. The "solution" would be to just allow currency shortages to develop. People can use deposit money.<br /><br />Under the status quo, a deflationary policy would increase the demand for currency, and the central bank could and should issue more currency. While the currency hoarded would do little good, when all of that extra currency was issued and used to pay down the national debt, that money wasn't funding real capital goods anyway. <br /><br />Of course, if the government finds issuing currency unprofitable, fails to issue enough, and has the entire financial system based upon the hand-to-hand currency, the result is depression.<br /><br />Bill Woolseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06330232724290161369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897997766931633186.post-64934831615569514502013-03-15T06:47:08.905-04:002013-03-15T06:47:08.905-04:00Well, I am not sure the Tammy diatribe--a club blo...Well, I am not sure the Tammy diatribe--a club blow from monetary Neanderthalism---really deserves an answer.<br /><br />Perhaps Woolsey has nailed Tammy's underlying agenda---fixed exchange rates, and frozen price levels, and a strong dollar, all to benefit the global American Archipelago (and a fantastically expensive empire at that: The USA outlays $1 trillion a year on the VA, Defense and Homeland Security). <br /><br />But I think Woolsey credits Tammy too much. There is just a monetary caveman crowd around, that rants about inflation and the need for a strong dollar. <br /><br />I think if they have an agenda, tperhaps they really represent bondholders. <br /><br />That is an even more-frightening idea: In Japan, I assume the huge bond holding class (the only asset worth owning for the last 20 years) plays a role in that nation's abject fixation on zero inflation (now perhaps ending) and even deflation. <br /><br />Time will tell. <br /><br />I would like to see m<br />Market Monetarists explore the idea of "good deflation." My suspicion is that there is no such thing. A general deflation will always make it appealing to hold onto cash, and punish investing in real estate (for both lenders and borrowers). <br /><br />Yen in the mattress has been a better investment in Japan for the last 20 years than equities or property.<br /><br />Is that really a way to prosperity? <br /><br /><br />Benjamin Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14001038338873263877noreply@blogger.com