[Info-vax] HP stopping VMS paper documentation ?

[glen herrmannsfeldt]

AEF <spamsink2001 at yahoo.com> wrote:

(snip, someone wrote)
>> "Monetary Policy" is a poor tool, one too often used instead of
>> rectifying the underlying problem(s). 

Even the Fed knows this, and says so, but they try anyway.

> So what you're saying is that if interest rates were higher,
> everything would be the same or better? I don't see how that follows.
> In fact, if interest rates are too high you get deflation, which is
> very, very bad. 

Why is deflation so bad?  It seems that we got here through a
house price bubble that artificially raised house prices.
Now the supposed solution is to wait until the price of everything
else gets (through inflation) up to the artificial house price.

> And you get more unemployment. In fact, the
> stagflation of the 70s demonstrated this nicely. Inflation was rising.
> For that you raise interest rates. Unemployment was high, and for that
> you reduce interest rates. A difficult problem indeed! Paul Volcker,
> the Fed chairman at the time, battled this and brought inflation under
> control. The unemployment rate later came down and stagflation was
> beaten.

Also, people claim to believe in free-market, but not really.

If the free market decided that you were worth only $1/day, you
might not believe in it either.

> Yes, monetary policy not a sliver bullet. It is just a tool. Other
> measures must be taken. But it is important, nonetheless.

>> to learn the hard way!

-- glen