I don’t understand what the article is getting at – real interest rates have been negative for several years – that is part of why gold has gone from $300/oz to $900/oz
“real interest rates — interest rates measured in purchasing power — could become negative”
it’s just that the sheeple haven’t yet realized that real interest rates are negative and have been for years
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the article also assumes that there are no alternatives to spending/loaning depreciating dollars – no mention of the fact that intelligent people with excess cash would be trying to preserve their purchasing power by putting the excess cash into tangibles like silver and gold [but again, this article is aimed at the sheeple]
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another interesting game the Fed could play currency-wise: declare all $100 bills null and void (sorry, Mr. Franklin) – most $100’s circulate outside the USA so this game would mostly screw foreigners and not Americans – the rationale (spin) would be that the $100 bill has been counterfeited to the point of worthlessness so we are removing it from the currency – presto-magico, massive reduction in the supply of US dollars circulating