[lujim]

>The inflation argument is a little misleading. We have been printing money to offset historically low and increasingly declining money velocity. The money velocity is declining precisely because wealth is being aggregated in silos and not being spent. Money velocity is essential to a healthy economy. And quite frankly, we could do with a little inflation to encourage spending and not hoarding by the uber wealthy.

We have been printing money for quantitative easing, but it isn't released into circulation. The Fed sets short term interest rates directly, but once those hit zero, the only alternative is QE. QE uses Fed cash (printed if you will) to buy US Treasuries thereby increasing the demand for them and driving down long term interest rates. The goal is to avoid the contraction of credit and the deleveraging of the US economy. If that much cash was just dumped into circulation you would see inflation on a large scale.

As for the rest of it I'm going on opinion which you and I have no chance of agreeing on (which isn't the end of the world, everyone has their own opinion). Yes I think child care and self improvement are great in the long run, but it can be tricky to measure exactly how much they contribute directly to GDP (quantitative measurement). Yes I also think work to live is better for society. I think work helps people stay out of trouble and even when I was making next to nothing it felt good to make my own way.