There’s a scene in Ayn Rand’s seminal novel, Atlas Shrugged, in which ethical pirate, Ragnar Danneskjold tells industrialist hero Hank Reardon that his piracy is meant to destroy the idea of Robin Hood:
“This is the horror which Robin Hood immortalized as an ideal of righteousness. It is said that he fought against the looting rulers and returned the loot to those who had been robbed, but that is not the meaning of the legend which has survived. He is remembered, not as a champion of property, but as a champion of need, not as a defender of the robbed, but as a provider of the poor.”
I feel this way about the idea of “disinflation.”
The word shouldn’t even exist.
That it does exist seems entirely due to a desire on the part of The Powers That Be (TPTB) and their lapdog economists to deceive the public.
What is disinflation?
It’s a reduction in the rate of inflation, which is itself an increase in money supply that results in higher aggregate prices after long and variable lags.
But even if we accept the misleading shortcut accepted by mainstream financial media that inflation is an increase in prices (that happens for other mysterious reasons no one really understands), it’s still an increase. And a reduction of an increase is still an increase.
In other words, “disinflation” is just inflation that’s less bad. But less bad is not good.
Inflation light, if you will, is still inflation.
It’s still money losing purchasing power.
It’s still an involuntary transfer of value from the people to the government that creates it.
It’s still an unauthorized stealth tax.
It’s still theft on the largest scale possible.
What disinflation is not is any kind of improvement.
And it’s absolutely not deflation, which I think the word is very much meant to sound like.
Keep this in mind whenever you hear the talking heads on mainstream media talking about how wonderful disinflation is.
And—please—don’t ever use the word yourself as a positive thing.
This only helps perpetuate the grossly distorted view of the economy TPTB have foisted on an unwary public, much to the detriment of us all.
Better yet, push back against the idea when you hear it bandied about.
Let’s arise to the occasion as ethical pirates and put an end to this deceit.
I’ll do my part.
Sincerely,
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