Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by hajile 1657 days ago
Inflation is NEVER the answer.

Inflation taxes money, but not hard assets.

The poor have their week's worth of money that then gets taxed an extra 10-30%. The middle-class may sell some assets and be partly hit as a result. The wealthy will just hold their assets until the market settles down and lose nothing.

This is the exact opposite of a good economic solution.
2 comments
iso1631 1657 days ago
The poor owe a fortune in debt to the wealthy, inflation wicks this away

As long as wages increase with, and they have to. If the poor can no longer as a whole afford to pay $1k in rent because the money goes on food, then they won't, and rental prices will have to come down because the demand for rental at $1k crashes (as nobody can afford it)

link
Invictus0 1657 days ago
> This is the exact opposite of a good economic solution.

The system is built by and FOR the wealthy. The system is working exactly as designed: to hold down the middle and lower classes, giving them just enough to be happy but not enough to emerge from the rat race.

link
gofigure 1657 days ago
GDP per person in the US is around $50K. Some of the GDP has to go to investment and the government, so at best people can consume on average $30K worth of products/services per year.

Would you be happy consuming just $30K/year? I didn't think so.

The ratrace is not a matter of absolute numbers, it's because everyone wants to have more than their neighbors have and more than what their parents had. Also, everyone seems to want to spend 20% more than what they are making hence most people in the country are in (consumer) debt. Government is no exception and mirrors the behavior of the citizen.

This whole thing about the rich not giving enough money to the poor to keep them working is BS.

link