eniotna
Joined 10 years ago
Joined 10 years ago
It's a worthwhile tradeoff.
Computers have been deflationary since their inception (you can get a better computer for the same money if you wait a year) but people will always value the present more then the future, that's why we've been buying computers regardless. The same principle could apply in theory to other asset classes, you want a house now even though you could get a better one in the future because you value comfort today rather then tomorrow. Spending isn't driven by inflation, it's driven by knowing we have limited time to live.
> There’s a reason we have target rates
In an interview Powell admitted no one really knows why the target is 2%. Why is 2% better than 10%, why not 0%? We don't need to encourage consumption with artificial money devaluation, humans already discount the future because of the finiteness of our lives
"What should we work for?
Only this: proper understanding; unselfish action; truthful speech. A resolve to accept whatever happens as necessary." — Marcus Aurelius
That's a terrible idea, who will construct anything if there is no money to be made? You don't fix those kinds of problems by price fixing, let the free market take care of the supply/demand issue. Unfortunately, the bay area is far from a free market when it comes to housing.
"Thus inflation becomes the most important psychological resource of any economic policy whose consequences have to be concealed; and so in this sense it can be called an instrument of unpopular, i.e. of anti-democratic, policy, since by misleading public opinion it makes possible the continued existence of a system of government that would have no hope of the consent of the people if the circumstances were clearly laid before them."