06-22-2016, 03:50 AM
(06-22-2016, 02:48 AM)Galen Wrote:(06-21-2016, 07:23 AM)Anthony Wrote:Quote:I have always found it interesting that those who are so public about supporting the poor will not recognize the harm that inflation does. Then again, a commodity money would limit government spending and it is inconceivable that anyone would want to starve the god of liberals and progressives. It is more important to them then any consequences to the poor.
But what good is the fact that apples cost a nickel if you don't have the nickel?
What good is a nickel if it is worthless? Come to think of it what good is a dollar if it is worthless as well? Now the rich compensate by first getting the government to spend the newly printed money on them. Second, they own tangible as well as financial assets that tend to go up in terms of nominal price. Anyone who is holding the currency as savings, particularly while interest rates are artificially low, is going to lose. The poor usually don't know much about these kind of investments and it is kind of hard to save up for them when inflation is eating your seed capital.
I started without a bean to my name so I know what I am talking about here.
...and what good is a mill (a thousandth of a dollar) if it too is worthless or simply impractical to use? The USA has never issued 'mill' coins. It issued fractional (half) cents in the mid-19th century, but that is as low as it went.
The cent could easily be demonetized in practice by (1) not issuing it and (2) withdrawing cent coins in circulation. Canada is doing so with its cent coins.
Nothing enforces astute handling of money as does, paradoxically, its lack. People who suddenly get large amounts of cash after being short of it often waste money on egregious expenditures; just look at lottery winners as a group and heirs who have recently had money problems. Buying or building a dream house is dumb. Buying the most expensive car on the lot is dumb. Buying expensive gifts to impress distant relatives is dumb. On the other hand, peasants and shoe-string businessmen are famous for watching expenditures closely not only in the business itself but in personal life. Buy some better farm equipment or go on a cruise? Install labor-saving equipment in the restaurant or buy an expensive car? Living above one's means is a bad idea.
The fault to day is that despite our marvels of productivity we have so much poverty, the result of market power of employers over employees. We have done well in creating more work while keeping the work paid badly. We have found excellent means of imposing new costs upon poor people so that they pay more for the same stuff.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.