Fascinating! Yes, printing the money will keep the booze flowing and the band playing for a bit longer! Print! Print! Print, I say! And stick with the party line! A bit of a chore, yes, but by ignoring problems, it can be done! And then back to the party! Print!
Well, given the choice of kicking the can down the road again or strangling the economy... I'll take kicking the can down the road. Neither plan was good, but I think it's pretty clear that austerity would have been "less good."
There's no easy way out of this hole that the two sides, working together, have dug us into. The only thing we can really hope to achieve is lessening the impact by creating a new economy within the shell of the old... and the longer they kick the can, the longer we have to get that done.
Ha, yes I do understand the spin made to rationalize the printing. And since austerity would mean the party stopped, CLEARLY IT "LESS GOOD".
Because, hey...
You know that partying, that's good.
Lots of countries, my friend, have gone down this path, and the results of their decisions are out in the open to study. The general theme is the "hollowing out of the middle class", which may be roughly understood is they steal everything you got, then toss you out on the road.
But hey.
For now, how about those drinks?
I think you misunderstand my position somewhat.
Reexamine my last post, without the blinders.
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Sure. Generally speaking, putting a problem off makes it worse when it's finally faced up to. In economics, there is a theory that a an ec0nomic crisis can be outrun by printing money, simply by having growth at a higher rate than the inflation. With the events of the last four years, both the evidence and simple math will show that's neither been the case nor is going to be the case. In the past, though, this has been done successfully for limited periods of time.
I'd suggest a different approach to understanding the problem. Not starting with a premise that the money printing was done because it was "good for us", that was all propaganda and lies. Instead, start by asking "what's good about the printing for those who are doing the printing?"
From that point of view, the answer is quite simple. By printing and keeping interest rates near zero, the US government pays very little interest on it's debt. It's now refinanced short term treasuries into long term, locking in those low rates. Of course, low rates and the FED buying all the papers means only that the party continues until average world interest rates exceed those of the US and capital flight begins.
Well, then. We make out as long as there are big crises "outside" in Europe, Iceland, Greece, Cyprus, Argentina, etc, because the focal point of the media is pointed somewhere else.
Consider this - The stagflation created by the above policies does not allow for business or jobs expansion, because it is predicated upon low velocity of money. High employment has in the past mean high inflation, and so it does now. Thus the very basis of the argument for the stimulus (although perhaps well intentioned at the time of the first or second one) is now false.
You'r stuck between a rock and a hard point.