The Dangers of Deflation

Dees Illustration

Anthony Migchels, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

After decades of inflation and fears of Ben ‘Helicopter’ Bernanke induced hyperinflation it is probably not surprising that a wearying public is starting to wonder whether deflation would be the lesser evil.

But not only is deflation (austerity) a disaster, we are being set up to believe it’s the only alternative to rampant inflation.

It is not and it is time we bury this lie before it starts a life of its own.

Let us recap the classic case against deflation, before looking beyond it.

1. Deflation makes money worth more and all the rest worth less.
That includes labor, which is the commodity that most Americans rely on in the marketplace. Deflation is thus a wealth transfer from those that don’t have money to those that do. About 50% of Americans own zero net assets.  It is fair to say that only a very small percentage of Americans will profit from this wealth transfer.

2. Deflation makes debts and the interest payed over them worth more.
This is good for creditors. I.e. the banks and the billionaires. It is very bad for Government, which owes $15 trillion; and for the tax payer, who is on the hook for the whole lot.  As we know it is primarily the middle classes that pay taxes. It is very bad for all other debtors, including those paying off their mortgages.

3. Prices decline because of demand crashing
Of course, declining prices sounds great, right? Well, if they are going down in certain sectors as a result of innovation or market pressures, yes, then we are happy if prices go down. But if prices go down because demand is crashing, that’s a completely different scenario. Demand is crashing because the money supply is contracting and that is a very serious problem indeed.

4. Deflation hinders economic growth
The currency is appreciating. That is a good incentive to hoard the stuff, instead of spending it on investments and consumption, which is the real economy. Inflation has the opposite effect: people dump cash and this supports economic growth. That’s why contractions are usually deflationary, while booms are usually inflationary.

So deflation has been utterly discredited, not just in theory, but in practice. Just think of the Great Depression, which was a monetary contraction. Europe dumped the Gold Standard in the thirties because it was so deflationary. Keynesianism was a reaction to this deflation.

And more relevant today, just think of the poor Irish and Greeks. They know all about deflation and austerity and they don’t seem to believe it is doing them much good.

Also keep in mind what kind of people are calling for it. The IMF, the ECB, Brussels, the banking community. Are we really going to listen to the people who created this mess in the first place?

Just another Hegelian Dialectic: The fact of the matter is, we are being set up for yet another of ‘their’ favorite dialectics: inflation vs deflation. Or more accurate: deficit spending vs. austerity.

Its synthesis: a wealth transfer to the rich, of course.

The deficit spenders a la Paul Krugman tell us debt is no problem. Austerity’s advocates tell us it is.

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The key to understanding all dialectics is to see their hidden common ground. In this case, both discuss debt, but not interest.  The problem is not debt, it’s interest.

But that’s a moot point, you say. Where there is debt, there is interest!  Capital will always want a return, it’s unavoidable.

Really?

After all, we know our money is generated in computers. Banks (or better: the banking system at large) create all the money we borrow.

Our $200k mortgage, for which we pay $300k in interest over thirty years, amounting to ten years of wage slavery for the average American, is created the minute we go into debt.

Nothing is backing the debt. Nobody is losing control over even one dime. Not even temporarily.

We consider this a disgrace, and say we want Gold to end this scandal.

But the real question is:  If the bank creates the money out of nothing for nothing, why am I paying $300k interest on a $200k mortgage?

Why don’t I get it interest free?  We all know the answer to this question, of course.

It is because we are slaves.

The next question is; would I be any happier if I pay this $300k interest for a Gold based mortgage?

The answer is: we would still be slaves.

Not to the printing press, but to those holding gold. And don’t believe for a second that those few ounces you may be holding count for much. Nobody knows where all the gold is, but it is a sure bet that the Money Power has a decisive stake in the world’s reserves. Remember how they got rich? Lending to governments while setting them up for wars against each other? They were not lending paper back then. Real gold is what they were offering. And they didn’t dump all their gold after Nixon ended Bretton Woods.

Fractional Reserve Banking is a fraud and an incredibly inefficient way of producing credit. The reason it exists (besides obvious historical reasons) is to obscure the truth — that we pay $300k for absolutely nothing. We are being defrauded. Ripped off.

That’s one of the key reasons the bankers want to reinstate gold. They’ll simply have a better excuse for enslaving us with interest. It all sounds a bit rich to enslave billions of people with simply credit. Just give ‘em some shiny stuff in return. It worked for the yesterday’s Natives, so why not today?

But real money creation is simple and stable. You can find out how it’s done here.

If you have never seen the real costs of interest to society I very strongly suggest you read up here.
Reread it until you get upset.  If you don’t, you’ve missed the point.

We can create all the credit that we will ever need at zero cost. That is the stone cold truth staring us in the face. It’s all we need to know to transcend the nasty little Inflation vs Deflation dialectic.

It’s all we need to know to get rid of the crooks and end the lie.

The simple fact of the matter is that we can end all interest payments now and the crunch would be over tomorrow. Nobody would lose a dime. All debts would be repaid. Only the rich would lose a massive income stream. But this income is their reward for enslaving us through their printing press operation. So I think we can explain to them they’ll have to find a job to replace that income.

Just think of all the purchasing power that would become available in all the levels of the economy, if consumers and producers are no longer weighed down with exorbitant interest costs in exchange for computer entries.

All this may be a little hard to fathom immediately. But rethink this question: ‘If the bank creates the money out of nothing for nothing, why am I paying $300k interest on a $200k mortgage?’

If you don’t have a mortgage, think about this: ‘Why is the Government spending 700 billion per year (the equivalent of a TARP every year) on debt service alone? For money that was printed the minute it was borrowed?’

Keep thinking until you get angry, that’s when you’re getting close. Study a few of the links in this article and things will start to become clear.

The choice is simple: start paying attention to these questions, or continue paying interest for nothing to the Money Power for the rest of your life.

Anthony Migchels is an Interest-Free Currency activist and founder of the Gelre, the first Regional Currency in the Netherlands. You can read all of his articles on his blog Real Currencies.