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Re:Japan’s Prisons Are a Haven for Elderly Women by vkou on Saturday March 17, 2018 @02:48AM (#16605875)
Keep in mind that inflation is not just a form of taxation. It is also a form of debt forgiveness.

It sucks if you have liquid cash, and you are facing inflation. It's great if you are in debt.

Many Americans have a lot more debt then cash.

Re:Japan’s Prisons Are a Haven for Elderly Women by marcosdumay on Saturday March 17, 2018 @09:59AM (#16606949)
> It's great if you are in debt.

Things are more complicated than this.

As the country acquires a history of inflation, all the debits become more expensive. Things get worse the longer and the more intense that history becomes.

Japan is spending some trust capital for forgiving their poorest people's debit. Once it is gone, they will have to pay "interest" on the lack of trust, and guess what parcel of the population pays for most of that "interest"?

Besides, most of the benefits from a high inflation don't go into that "debit pardoning" effect. They don't go into the government as a hidden tax either. At the same time, all the costs go into people that have to carry some non interest-paying money, that is, poor people and small business.

Re:Japan’s Prisons Are a Haven for Elderly Women by vkou on Saturday March 17, 2018 @09:47PM (#16610091)
Poor people don't have any money to be inflated away. Half of America doesn't have three months of wages in their savings account.

Small businesses aren't exactly sitting on piles of cash either. They own or lease assets, and are often net debtors.

The reason small businesses arent doing great at the moment is due to economies of scale, and cost of land - not the loose fiscal policy.

Re:Japan’s Prisons Are a Haven for Elderly Women by etatoby on Saturday March 17, 2018 @07:26AM (#16606502)
> It sucks if you have cash

This should explain why governments in America and the EU are under pressure by strong interest groups to avoid inflation at all costs, even though it would help the common people who are in debt and possibly the economy as a whole.