Post ARU7kYkwumm6PwTLZQ by john@liberdon.com
 (DIR) More posts by john@liberdon.com
 (DIR) Post #ARTv3gkm6gqdJnBL6W by bitcoinmagazine@bitcoinhackers.org
       2023-01-09T23:15:25Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       If the government can just print money...Then why do we pay taxes?
       
 (DIR) Post #ARU7kYkwumm6PwTLZQ by john@liberdon.com
       2023-01-10T01:37:39Z
       
       0 likes, 2 repeats
       
       @bitcoinmagazine Trick question - printing money is a tax.
       
 (DIR) Post #ARUCgR4q1WlFDHd0Qy by duckz@mastodon.gamedev.place
       2023-01-10T02:32:55Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @john @bitcoinmagazine I've been mulling over that recently, it seems to me that printing money is more like a loan (one you never asked for), while increasing interest rates is a tax on everyone to get that loan paid back
       
 (DIR) Post #ARUDOge7V1pGF2EPke by john@liberdon.com
       2023-01-10T02:40:50Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @duckz I never asked for and I never got. The money doesn't go to me. I'm not a member of a FR Bank. I don't sit in on bond auctions.It's a tax on dollars and dollar-denominated assets. The fact that a large fraction of it is transferred to to wealthy bankers doesn't make it not a tax.
       
 (DIR) Post #ARUEak0WvYdy611dZY by duckz@mastodon.gamedev.place
       2023-01-10T02:54:18Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @john well yeah you pay it back through the heightened cost of everything, but you never got the money. As I understand, money printing is standard practice when a government is unable to make ends meet at the end of the year. They just print more (take a "loan"), pay what's left, then charge you. On top of the normal taxes. Then when they collect the interests, they just "destroy" that money and so they can say inflation is going down. That's my own conclusion at least
       
 (DIR) Post #ARUFK6qsq5MXyh99Zw by john@liberdon.com
       2023-01-10T03:02:31Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @duckz I misunderstood your previous statement. Thought you were analogizing it to them giving *me* a loan. Which I very much disagree with.That latter point - about destroying the money - doesn't happen a lot or on the same scale, though. The money supply does shrink sometimes, but the general trend is not a simple back-and-forth.https://www.usagold.com/wp-content/uploads/USM22000pres-1024x648.png
       
 (DIR) Post #ARUG7pzJoSyU9dnvFo by duckz@mastodon.gamedev.place
       2023-01-10T03:11:29Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @john yeah that should be the "inflation at 2%" target thing. With a slowing population growth I agree with your first post. I was rather thinking of the crazy 10-20% post-covid inflation we're seeing, which they're trying to reenter from
       
 (DIR) Post #ARULCCmTVkubm4hNlQ by john@liberdon.com
       2023-01-10T04:08:16Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @duckz I believe the 2% target is a price inflation (CPI) target. Monetary inflation can happen faster if it gets funneled into foreign countries or parts of the economy (e.g. stock market) that don't directly impact the basket of goods the CPI measures.