That doesn't mean the new money doesn't have value, just has a small percentage less value. It's a wealth transfer from people who currently have money to the new money. It works out well for people who have a negative net worth, as well!

It is a wealth transfer from people who currently have cash and earn cash (workers, since increases in pay lag the rate at which currency loses purchasing power) to people who have assets and COLA adjusted annuities (wealthy people and old people).

Assets and cola adjusted annuities also lag. They may lag less, but that's a discussion to have.

Real median wages have gone up more than inflation has over the last few years. It's just not evenly distributed.

Yeah, the salaried folk who find out in hindsight will be really happy as well. /s

I don't think sarcastic comments really help, people who aren't capable of having real conversations about this already bring enough of that. It is definitely worth talking openly about whether it's worth trading short term inflationary pain for long-term climate pain.

I guess you're right. The parent speaks of inflation as if printing money is the new norm. If you are going to take money from your citizens then be upfront about it!

All the money we have was printed. Printing money has always been the norm, it's just a matter of how much - at what rate.

You can print but still have a cap, see Bitcoin.

We do have a cap. It's not even clear to me that the federal government prints more slowly than bitcoin as a percentage of issued currency.

You are essentially forced borrowing from the cash holders of the printed currency. So yeah it would work. Wouldn’t necessarily be fair or popular; but it would work. Just have to account for the new money also being worth less because of the increase in the denominator of this equation.

It actually would even if it made existing money less valuable. Econ 101

It wouldn't work linearly, but it still works. If you print 10% of your GDP in a year, you'll be sitting on only 1/11th of the GDP in cash at the end of the process.

Ever heard of quantitative easing?

Look at Covid fiscal response causing permanent 30% inflation in the last 4 years. The climate+demographic response money printing operation will be way bigger than that.

Most of the inflation from the last 4 years is attributable to Russia invading Ukraine. You can't have the largest natural gas exporter and second largest oil exporter invade one of the largest grain exporters without causing basically everything in a supermarket or restaurant to be more expensive.

[delayed]

Also shipping interruptions and lockdowns. Giving people money to not work is goin to have a much larger inflationary effect than giving people money to build things we want.

Source? America is a natural gas exporter.

When the prices of fungible products rise in one place, they rise everywhere, otherwise there would be arbitrage opportunities everywhere.