Happy 400th birthday to the world's oldest bond

Re:Happy 400th birthday to the world's oldest bond by wqaatwt on Tuesday December 24, 2024 @12:46PM (#42503482)

How is it much worse than other indirect taxes? At least it provides benefits that VAT or sales taxes don’t like allows central banks to stabilize the financial system and reduce the outfall from boom and bust cycles (which were much worse pre 1830s).

Also if we look back price stability under the gold standard is a myth. Prices might have been broadly similar in 1800 and 1900 but there were some massive ups and downs in between that lasted decades. Predictable and stable inflation seems like a much smaller issue

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Re:Happy 400th birthday to the world's oldest bond by rvba on Tuesday December 24, 2024 @06:31PM (#42505731)

Inflation does not provide any benefit.

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Re:Happy 400th birthday to the world's oldest bond by wqaatwt on Wednesday December 25, 2024 @03:21AM (#42507660)

Thank you for this well developed argument..

It obviously does on the macro level.

On the individual level perhaps not so much. Unless you have a lot of debt as quite a few people tend to do. Then it also has obvious benefits.

Pre inflation standard bond yields were around 4-5%. Combine that with longterm deflation over several decades (e.g. late 1800s) and then consider how severely screwed you are if you have a mortgage on your farm..

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