frphank's avatar
frphank 2 weeks ago
Changing money supply, not necessarily increasing. If the economy grows (as it usually does, that's what we want) the supply needs to increase. But economies can also shrink and then the money supply needs to shrink. During COVID the economy shrank but central banks did the wrong thing and still increased the supply and prices getting all out of whack for a while was the result. In any case go ahead try to find your magic la-la land with stable prices and a fixed supply. I'm not keeping you. If you fail to find it you can still pull a @semisol and call your customers "wet wipes". It won't help but you'll feel good for like a minute.

Replies (2)

I'm not thinking about that. You're implying that stable means nominally equal from one year to another. So if a beer is 5$ in 2026, stability would mean it will keep being 5$ in 2027, then 5$ in 2030 and so on and so forth (at least if I get your argument right). This seems to be entirely unnecessary as far as I can see, especially if it is to be obtained by means of a central bank / planning agency that needs to constantly adjust the money supply. Computers once had prices hovering around 10000$, whereas now you can get a pretty good one for 400$. Is that unstable? Is that problematic?
frphank's avatar
frphank 2 weeks ago
> I'm not thinking about that. You're implying that stable means nominally equal from one year to another. So if a beer is 5$ in 2026, stability would mean it will keep being 5$ in 2027, then 5$ in 2030 and so on and so forth (at least if I get your argument right). Correct. > This seems to be entirely unnecessary as far as I can see, especially if it is to be obtained by means of a central bank / planning agency that needs to constantly adjust the money supply. How do you plan financially if prices are not stable. > Computers once had prices hovering around 10000$, whereas now you can get a pretty good one for 400$. Is that unstable? Is that problematic? They're an exception. Food, housing, transport, health are the things that matter. Just check your monthly budget.