161–170 of 246 posts
I wonder what the cleansing element of it in Finland was, given that they voted to join the Axis.
Enemy of your enemy is my friend.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was no "workable peace deal".
As unrealistic as it may be, “Russia gives back the stolen land and pays reparations” sounds like a workable deal if Russia itself suffers for long enough. Or maybe Russia will leave Ukraine if we give them all the land and assets owned by the “Ukraine should make a deal with Russia” people, as they're of the opinion that placating an invading army is the best way to peace.
Do you want Russia, a geopolitical entity, to somehow measurably suffer, or do you want an end to pointless bloodshed? Are you willing to put your own life to this lofty goal?
> placating an invading army is the best way to peace.
If you're not capable of repelling the invasion effectively, then yes, this is absolutely true. How could it not be? There's no reason that you can't have peace today and sue for justice tomorrow.
> It's not just the size of Operation Gutt that is striking to the modern eye. It's also the oddity of the tool being used. Today, we control inflation with changes in interest rates, not changes in the quantity of money. To soften the effect of the global COVID monetary overhang, for instance, central banks in the U.S., Canada, and Europe began to raise rates in 2022 from around 0% to 4-5% in 2024. It's a bit more i…
This describes how central banks operated in the U.S. before 2008 and in Canada before the 1990s. The Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada both set a target for the overnight interest rate, and then they hit that target by doing open market purchases (or sales) of bonds, effectively adding funds to (or draining funds away from) the overnight lending market. By changing the quantity of funds, they influenced the interest rate.
What changed is that both central banks introduced interest payments on balances that banks hold at the central bank. Previously, these balances earned 0%. With this new tool, they could directly set the overnight interest rate by adjusting the rate paid on these reserves, eliminating the need for regular open market operations.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bunker full of gold bars. Or foreign currency. Or silver.
The problem with all these is that money is kinda worthless if you're unable to spend it, and regimes that are likely to enact such monetary policies will often regulate the use of gold etc as well. A bunker full of gold bars does you no good if actually trying to spend any of it is a crime in and of itself.
Both are tough choices that rely on either too much time or too much space.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Today, we control inflation with changes in interest rates, not changes in the quantity of money. That is also not quite correct, I believe. The FED can invest money created out of thin air any time it wants („fiat money“ — „there shall be money“), usually it buys government bonds to help the federal government run its deficit. Sometimes this scheme is called „quantitative easing“ which is a charming euphemism. Thi…
>> This is what drove and still drives inflation directly and indirectly QE is fascinating. On the one side of QE you have central banks, absolutely baffled by the fact they create all these reserves, we’re talking utterly un-relatable numbers for a human, numbers that belong in the field of astronomy rather than finance. And yet they fail to hit their inflation targets for over a decade. On the other side you have a…
Hmmm. [1]
> USA, the UK, Aus etc and haven’t had for a number of years at this point
Indeed, the US abolished the 10% reserve requirement in 2020. Crazy. I hope you guys also save in inflation hedges.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are correct. Striking how many HN commentors are so often confident and yet wrong...
You are wrong. Striking how many HN commentators are so often confident and yet wrong in their assumption that everything is about the US.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Today, we control inflation with changes in interest rates, not changes in the quantity of money. That is also not quite correct, I believe. The FED can invest money created out of thin air any time it wants („fiat money“ — „there shall be money“), usually it buys government bonds to help the federal government run its deficit. Sometimes this scheme is called „quantitative easing“ which is a charming euphemism. Thi…
>> This is what drove and still drives inflation directly and indirectly QE is fascinating. On the one side of QE you have central banks, absolutely baffled by the fact they create all these reserves, we’re talking utterly un-relatable numbers for a human, numbers that belong in the field of astronomy rather than finance. And yet they fail to hit their inflation targets for over a decade. On the other side you have a…
I live in Norway, most people I know in private life that are of working age do not actually work, and for the most part they have better lives than I do, and I do work. The amount of people on sick leave have absolutely skyrocketed. 60% of welfare benefits in Norway go to immigrants and the population in cities grows faster than new homes are built. The causes and solutions of inflation are not complex. People just…
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.NE.ZS?locat...
A recent similar example was the Indian move in 2016 to demonetize the ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes with very little notice, which is in retrospect widely viewed to have been a disaster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Indian_banknote_demonetis...