I apologize if I came in on this thread without the necessary awareness
of the *entire contents* of the post I was defending. In no way did I
mean to imply an argument against capitalism, while I AM _definitely_
arguing against overbearing government.
CS:>> In addition, inflation by the Federal Reserve has eaten away the
value of our money, drastically. Just compare prices for a commodity
from, say, the 50s to their present prices, and you will see just how
much purchasing power the dollar has lost. <<
WKT: <<> Holding significant savings primarily in currency-denominated
assets has not been wise for a very long time. Inflation should have no
effect on the rate of savings; it should merely move those savings
even more toward equity as opposed to currency-denominated assets.>>
Inflation does indeed have an effect on the rate of savings, for if
the cost of living goes up, less is available for savings because more
money is needed for the day to day business of living.
>>Inflation will not affect a person's ability to transform equity
assets into a self-owned business. In fact, if the market perfectly
anticipated and allowed for inflation (it's never PERFECT -- merely
better than any real-world-credible alternative we've thought of
yet), inflation would have absolutely no effect on that person's
ability to borrow money to help start the business -- and later repay
the loan. <<
Depends on how wisely they've invested, doesn't it? In my opinion,
the stock market is an extremely risky place to be, especially in
today's perilous climate, where massive "bailouts" have become necessary
and many currencies have been or are being seriously devalued.
Inflation is a true evil for any economy. It is purely and simply theft
of the purchasing power of whatever particular currency is involved.
-Charlotte