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Re:The U.S. government’s failed 1890s attempt to forge unity... by notahacker on Friday June 11, 2021 @04:33PM (#27478119)
Seignorage revenues are distributed amongst ordinary people borrowing money who benefit from lower interest rates rather than being captured by those who own gold mines. Takes a remarkable degree of cognitive dissonance to argue granting them to the latter group would be a more progressive approach.
Re:The U.S. government’s failed 1890s attempt to forge unity... by billytetrud on Friday June 11, 2021 @08:02PM (#27479995)
Ok, well sort of. The consequences of seigniorage are afforded to those that spend the money earliest, including borrowers if the money borrowed is newly created money. However, the borrowers are paying for that privilege. And everyone else is paying for that privilege down the line. IE the borrower pays interest well in excess of any seigniorage realted benefits, the people or companies he pays with that loan money are selling things to him at a lower rate than they should based on the increased money supply (becuase that information takes time to propagate through the market), so when they spend the money, they have already been taxed.

But most banks aren't the originator of that money. The Fed creates money, all other banks lend it out which causes a money multiplier effect. However, the money multiplier doesn't actually affect prices directly - beause most of that money are deposits, ie they're not being used. Money only leads to price inflation when its spent. Banks gain seigniorage by having first access to money lent out or spent by The Fed. If they need extra money to cover for too little deposits, The Fed is there to give those banks below-market-rate loans. If the government needs to borrow more money and banks don't have enough to buy the bonds, The Fed will buy bonds from banks at above market rates so those banks can buy more bonds with the money they get back from that. That's where the seigniorage happens.

There are also financial institutions that banks give benefits to (cheap loans for example). Those financial institutions also benefit from seigniorage by getting those cheap loans. Ordinary people aren't getting cheaper loans tho. If anything, the monetary inflation pushes loan rates up, even as nil resere requirements and a low discount rate have pushed them down.

Re:The U.S. government’s failed 1890s attempt to forge unity... by imtringued on Friday June 11, 2021 @06:14PM (#27479146)
Yeah the flaw is that if the rich get the money early and don't generate inflation, it implies they haven't spent it and thus do not significantly benefit from inflation. They may have gotten a greater share of all USD but they haven't redeemed that share in a way that takes resources away from the poor.

If they spend it, poor people would still benefit because the spending is creating jobs in the process. Really, the only problem is land ownership (renting out buildings is fine) and that has nothing to do with inflation, rent seeking is a fundamental problem that drains productivity from the economy.

Re:The U.S. government’s failed 1890s attempt to forge unity... by notahacker on Friday June 11, 2021 @06:40PM (#27479383)
The money isn't given and isn't targeted at "the rich" anyway. It's lent, with interest. If it wasn't lent, people would have to borrow money from the [mostly] rich, at higher interest rates, so in that respect the rich actually lose a subsidy.

Sure, some rich people take out loans (but have to pay it back, which often they do by spending the loan on stuff that creates jobs) and some benefit very indirectly from asset prices rising. But as a general rule the poorest demographic borrows more than they own and lends absolutely nothing, and the richest demographic borrows less than it lends, and sees returns to its lending fall

Re:The U.S. government’s failed 1890s attempt to forge unity... by billytetrud on Friday June 11, 2021 @06:29PM (#27479276)
Renting land is actually not "rent seeking". Tho I can see how people make that association. Rent seeking is specifically the act of manipulating pulic policy to gain more money without providing anything in return.