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Comment by rodgerd | Hacker News Reader

> Inflation is the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about that keeps poor people poor.

Keeping inflation down has been the central policy of Western banks for 30 to 40 years. It absolutely absurd to claim that it is "not talked about."

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It's not about keeping it “down”, it's about keeping it “low enough”. Which leads to understanding that there is some corridor of acceptable inflation and you have some wiggle room until Zimbabwe or Venezuela levels, when it's high and the economy is “struggling” but it's not a terrible disaster. That is, there is no talking about eliminating inflation as it were universally harmful; the general understanding is that it's actually beneficial to the economy as a whole. It may be harmful to some parts of the society but you don't go admitting that publicly, saying that won't do anything about it because someone's lives are less important than the economy.

It is not absurd. There was little to no conversation around the impact of trillions of dollars of stimulus injection last year or the further $4 trillion injection of the current infrastructure bill. Injecting nearly the annual US GDP in 18 months has consequences, and almost none of them are positive. Especially when they are not targeted.

> almost none of them are positive

For you perhaps. That spending helped countless people, averted untold hardship, and for some could only be described as life changing

I am not against supporting those in need, but blanket unmetered injection has consequences. The IRS is capable of disbursing based on income, primarily because it is reported digitally and manually monthly via payroll taxes, and those with no or reduced reported income would be default to fund.

Beyond that I am not sure the result will be worth the cost, especially for those that are the most price sensitive.

Positive in the sense that eating a giant bag of candy and cookies is positive. Unfortunately that positivity is rather short lived as the consequences play out over time.

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