Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by lotsofpulp 1736 days ago
Why would they US government not be able to print its way out? I assume the US will be able to as long as it has the preeminent military and a stable society and court system, with relatively high levels of trust compared to other countries.

If another similar size country becomes a more stable option, then I would be worried.
1 comments
blitzar 1736 days ago
Recesssions and depressions cant happen because the US can print money? Tell that to the history books. While you are there take a look at what causes an economic turndown, it tends to come on the back of massive spending, printing money, juiced growth and wars.
link
lotsofpulp 1736 days ago
Politically, I do not think the US will let a deflationary spiral happen as long as it can print money. Sufficient portions of the population are fully invested in the equities market, and I expect the US to pull out all the stops to prop up their prices. They might take a hit for a couple years (although I bet even that seems politically unacceptable), but on a timeframe of more than a few years, I expect the US government to keep inflating, assuming they are able to per the conditions in my previous comment.
link
blitzar 1735 days ago
> I expect the US government to keep inflating

I am not certain they have as much power over inflation as they think. The US have been trying to drive higher inflation since 2008. Japan have been trying to drive higher inflation since 1990's. Europe have been trying to drive higher inflation since 2014.

Printing money, making money free, paying people to borrow, buying assets, bonds, mortgages even stocks has been attempted. We have gotten to the point of literally putting money into peoples bank account, and finally have an inflation print akin to pre 2008 in the US and Europe.

link
modo_mario 1736 days ago
> wars

I'd sadly say the US has (like any empire before it) used wars and similar methods to achieve the opposite. Not always effectively but still.

Check a lot of countries in the world peg to the dollar even when it doesn't seem economically sensible. Remember when Japan in the 80's was forced to do technology transfers to the US, import minimum quotas of US tech and limit it's exports whilst adjusting their monetary policy to help out the US leading to a crash that preceded the lost decade?

It's not because they loved the US so much that they did such things.

link
blitzar 1735 days ago
> used wars and similar methods to achieve the opposite

Totally agree - but the bust comes after the war... based on the size of spending, one could make parallels between war and covid policy. A trick old as time to stir up a war to distract from political problems. Borrow and spend is justified (unless you are a traitor and vote to kill our troops). But the flip side of that things are ugly - but it is always the next guys problem.

With so much money readily available for investment, speculation was inevitable, particularly in the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the real estate market. The Nikkei stock index hit its all-time high on December 29, 1989, when it reached an intra-day high of 38,957.44 before closing at 38,915.87. (sounds familiar perhaps?)

The 1990s in Japan was the beginning of economic turmoil and recession for that particular nation; resulting in their Lost Decade.

link