“Where’s the inflation?” I keep hearing people ask, with regard to the Federal Reserve’s “quantitative easing”. As though it wasn’t evident right in front of them. First of all, “quantitative easing” is inflation. So where’s the inflation?
There it is. But what most people mean by “inflation” is the consequence of inflation, which is rising prices. So where’s the inflation?
There it is. But most people also speak of price inflation only in terms of the government’s measure, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), even though the excess credit from the Fed’s inflationary monetary policy doesn’t necessarily show up solely in terms of a uniform increase in prices across a basket of consumer goods. On the contrary, it tends to find its way into asset classes, such as the NASDAQ bubble or subsequent housing bubble. So where’s the inflation?
There it is.
There it is. And, last but not least, the thing that prompted me to make this post:
There it is.
It would be nice if the Fed, in the world where it continues quantitative easing (likely this one), would monetize the debt instead of buy it. It would have the same overall effect on inflation with the added benefit of less debt. To be clear, I’m not advocating this policy, I don’t think the Fed should exist at all and I don’t think the government should be in the position to be able to create debt at all (or even exist at all for that matter).
Good article, I’ll have to show this to someone.
Thanks!
The trend in the last one is scarier than last bubble.