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Re:Alabama immigration: crops rot as workers vanish to avoid... by icebraining on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @06:24PM (#13648281)
What kinds of debts are you thinking of? I don't know any workers with long-term debts which aren't inflation adjusted (even if indirectly).

The whole idea of inflation reducing the value of debts seems silly. "We'll trick those bankers with this well known, mostly predictable, small decrease in the value of money! They'll never see it coming!"

Re:Alabama immigration: crops rot as workers vanish to avoid... by AnthonyMouse on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @06:50PM (#13648444)
> What kinds of debts are you thinking of?

Mortgage loans, student loans, car loans, credit card debt, taxes paid in service to national debt, ...

> I don't know any workers with long-term debts which aren't inflation adjusted (even if indirectly).

Interest rates are somewhat inversely correlated with inflation.

Typically the only time you see high inflation and high interest rates together is when the economy is booming and people are willing to borrow despite the high interest rates. Then that borrowing, since banks create the money they loan you (they don't actually have all of it they just credit your account), causes inflation.

When inflation is caused by the government creating money, it causes interest rates to go down. Because the supply of money goes up so by supply and demand the price of money goes down. The price of money is the interest rate, therefore lower interest rates.

You would think banks wouldn't loan money if the interest rate is less than the rate of inflation, but remember again that they don't actually have all the money you borrow, they just credit your account and collect interest. Even if they had the money, it does them no good sitting in a vault depreciating -- 1% interest against 10% inflation is still more than the 0% they get by not loaning it to anyone.

The main problem is that the lower interest rates cause people to borrow more money, so the key is to combine the inflation with policies that would otherwise be deflationary. Increase the housing supply, eliminate mortgage and student loan interest subsidies for new debt, etc. Discourage new debt in general -- even tax loan interest on new debts. That allows the market to correct against historical bad policies without causing disastrous deflation.

Re:Alabama immigration: crops rot as workers vanish to avoid... by Tsagadai on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @06:42PM (#13648406)
If I have a debt at an interest rate of 4% and inflation is 5% my debt is worth less every year relative to the value of other things. If I have a debt at an interest rate of 5% and inflation is 2.5% the value of the debt is increasing. This effect is increased if only interest is being paid and the asset the debt is for does not increase in value (like a car).

Add to this that wages are relatively stagnant for most people outside of tech since the 80s in some countries and you have a problem. It can get even worse where wages are kept stagnant by government intervention and inflation goes up faster than 5%.

Re:Alabama immigration: crops rot as workers vanish to avoid... by AnimalMuppet on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @06:34PM (#13648350)
Mortgages.

Now, you could argue that the expectation of future inflation is built into the mortgage interest rate at the time you obtain the mortgage. And you'd be correct. But once you have the mortgage, then inflation helps you. Or rather, it helps you when your wages rise in response to inflation.

Re:Alabama immigration: crops rot as workers vanish to avoid... by DaiPlusPlus on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @06:42PM (#13648404)
Unless you have a variable-rate mortgage, of course.
Re:Alabama immigration: crops rot as workers vanish to avoid... by Spellman on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @06:57PM (#13648484)
Which is why people tout going fixed rate
Re:Alabama immigration: crops rot as workers vanish to avoid... by Consultant32452 on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @06:38PM (#13648367)
Ignore Tucker Carlson, economist Mark Blyth got famous recently for being virtually the only economist who predicted Trump's win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-hV_XS8dH4
Re:Alabama immigration: crops rot as workers vanish to avoid... by icebraining on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @07:38PM (#13648723)
Why point to Mark Blyth and not to Arthur Laffer?