[quote=patientrenter][quote=Nor-LA-SD-GUY2]…….
Funny thing is just like japan (because we don’t want to inflate) we will end up with larger and larger defect spending just to keep people busy so they don’t revolt. You cannot get more Gov revenue without growth, you cannot get growth until you solve the housing situation (one way or the other)….[/quote]
Those who gambled on earning income from leveraged speculation on asset prices, especially house prices, are desperate for inflation. It’s the easy way to generate income for those who bought assets with borrowed money. Make thousands every month without having to produce anything! What a deal! Bernanke is a God!
The actual solution to our problems is making more real stuff that we all want enough to pay for, and that substitutes for imports, and exporting things that other people want enough to pay for. Instead we are anxious to shuffle money around so that we can dream that we can get rich by sitting on leveraged housing assets, just like we were doing before 2008.[/quote]
Bingo!
Inflation, in the absence of wage inflation, is the very worst thing one could hope for. What we need is asset price deflation, and a rejiggering (is that even a word?) of trade and tax policies so that we encourage domestic production and exports. If we can hold wages fairly steady while encouraging production and exports, then we can get out of this recession/depression (which I think is a continuation of the recession/depression that began in ~2001).
We also desperately need to raise taxes — in a big way — on speculative gambling (what some call “investing”). Investing directly in business that produce things is a net positive and can truly expand the economy, but speculating on asset price movements (especially if leveraged is used) is zero-sum, and will eventually destroy an economy. Why people fail to distinguish between these two types of “investing” is totally beyond me. We need to raise top marginal rates on speculative gambling to 90%+, while moving rates on other *productive* investments to match those of earned income.
