Miscellaneous thoughts about miscellaneous matters
Most people don’t think about inflation and the money supply, but they are things that are important. It has come out in the news recently, because Congress is discussing raising the debt ceiling again, and that is an important factor in determining the value of the dollar. The dollar is backed by debt, Treasury Bonds to be specific. As long as there is a market for Treasury bonds, the dollar will be worth something, but the quantity theory of currency applies. That means that the more money that ...
I saw a letter to the Editor in the Daily Hampshire Gazette that asserted that present inflation was a result of Biden’s policies. That is a false accusation. There has been inflation at substantial levels for several decades, and it has been a deliberate policy of the U.S. government. The inflation policy was established to ensure that the government could make money by selling long term bonds. Bonds are sold by the Treasury Department with a fixed interest payment, and the actual ...
Since 2017 the National Debt has grown from 20 trillion to about 27 trillion, and there are proposals for additional stimulus that would add between 3 and 4 Trillion to the debt. Most of the increase in debt under Trump is due to the huge tax cuts that were given to the extremely wealthy and to corporations. I don't even think about “class warfare”, but Trump tried to get more support from his friends, without considering the consequences. It has long been easy for businesses to ...