COMMENT: Dear Martin –
I have been a follower for some time now and had great pleasure in hearing you speak at the Princeton WEC. Thank you for so readily sharing your knowledge with those that are willing to listen and learn.
I recall you mentioning that governments will often have a desired policy “floated” through another source, so as to provide the appearance that they are adopting an independently conceived course of action. I noticed that just yesterday the IMF published Staff Discussion Note SDN/15/22 ( http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=43162 ). To my reading, this paper advocates further QE by the ECB. Maybe the most notably questionable comment to be found in the paper is that “governments do tend to take corrective measures in response to an increase in government debt”, as indicated under point 14.
I thought you might find this article interesting and foretelling. If nothing else, it seems to be further confirmation of the predictions provided by Socrates.
Best, WN
REPLY: Europe has become one giant experiment for taxing money, which is popularly called negative interest rates. They meant precisely this when they stated “governments do tend to take corrective measures in response to an increase in government debt.” It is NOT a trend toward hyperinflation, as in revolutionary or defunct governments where they just disavow the prior debt of the previous government. This is the deflationary course which shrinks the economy rather than dealing with the debt. The IMF is advocating taxing money itself, and this will only lead to hoarding and trying to get off the grid.
