raghu wrote:
> It is funny that the intellectual heirs of Ayn Rand - the libertarians
> - are today among the harshest critics of Alan Greenspan. He is
> usually denounced in libertarian circles as a sellout because of the
> way his easy money policies allegedly debased the value of the US
> dollar...

money libertarians use language differently. For example, in those
circles, it's common to hear about "inflation" during the 1920s in the
US. What? the path of the consumer price index was flat and drifting
downward. But by "inflation," they mean credit inflation, where the
money supplies grow relative to the monetary base. They sometimes like
the idea of Henry Simons and the early MF, who wanted to end the
ability of banks to "create money."

Of course, that would produce deflation or (to avoid that fate)
require a regular increase in the monetary base. That's not allowed it
gold buggery is imposed, so that the monetary base = the stock of gold
and fiat money is abolished. I guess they like deflation, because that
always helps creditors. (Directly helps creditors, that is, but as
Irving Fisher argued, deflation can cause a depression and the process
can feed on itself.)
-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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