News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Countries are still paying off debt from World War 1 by seanmcdirmid on Sunday November 02, 2014 @12:08AM (#8545593)
0% risks stagnation, which means investment isn't envouraged or discouraged. Even 1% inflation slightly encourages investment, and really the scale only needs to be tipped a bit to keep the economy moving forward toward growth.
Re:Countries are still paying off debt from World War 1 by eru on Monday November 03, 2014 @02:23AM (#8549734)
I don't get that argument. Perhaps you want something like Demurrage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demurrage_(currency)), which could give you that incentive without debasing the currency.
Re:Countries are still paying off debt from World War 1 by Dylan16807 on Tuesday November 04, 2014 @01:40AM (#8555384)
If you're talking about the natural costs of holding money, those are miniscule. If you're talking about a tax I don't see how it avoids debasing the currency, or is meaningfully different from inflation. It just makes things more complicated because people can attempt to avoid paying.
Re:Countries are still paying off debt from World War 1 by icelancer on Monday November 03, 2014 @10:24AM (#8551182)
Inflation encourages "investment" which is another way of saying inflation encourages gambling.