Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

It sounds from your post like you have borrowed money to buy something (a home, perhaps) and are hoping that inflation will make it easier to pay back that debt. Your arguments work exactly in reverse for someone who is saving money for future large purchases and for whom inflation would be a disaster.

Without inflation, the working class is able to accumulate savings and better their lives. They don't need to put their money at risk in the markets or negotiate raises at work just to keep from falling behind.

Better still, all that money will get spent by all these people with more money and better jobs on buying better housing, newer cars, better food, more luxuries, and that money can make our corporations more profitable and faster-growing...

Maybe, maybe not, but all of these things can definitely be had by having a strong, stable currency that does not lose value.

The "go into debt and then have inflation devalue your debt" system creates a divide between people who are eligible to go into such debts, and people who are unable to and thus see their savings eroded by inflation. It would be much better to have stable consumer prices and to keep debt manageable by maintaining low interest rates.




My argument has nothing to do with my personal financial situation. You say the working class can accumulate savings with low inflation, but savings interest rates are basically zero. And the actual data shows people accumulating more debt, and savings are going down. Too much inflation is bad, but so is too little inflation. We've now had 10 years of far too little inflation.


”You say the working class can accumulate savings with low inflation, but savings interest rates are basically zero."

Yes; their savings maintains its value even if it does not earn interest. Inflation would destroy the value of what they have saved. Perhaps people are not saving as much as they would like because they know that inflation will ruin them, so they spend their money earlier than would be prudent.

We have had significant inflation in the past 10 years; the prices of just about everything at the supermarket have soared upward. That we can buy technology like computers and phones cheaper does not make up for this.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: