Delicious LiveJournal Links for 12-18-2008

[andrewducker]

• Obama's Chief Speechwriter, 27, Works on Inaugural Address While Making His Own Transition
  Good Lord. It's like being in The West Wing
  (tags: writing usa politics Obama speeches)
• U.S. Federal Reserve Sets Stage for Weimar Style Hyper-inflation
  The Federal Reserve has bluntly refused a request by a major US financial news service to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from US taxpayers and to reveal the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
  (tags: economics money panic_now)
• Travelling while disabled
  In which my friend Hannah talks about the problems she had travelling from Edinburgh to California. Very enlightening.
  (tags: travel disabilities)
• Jeffrey Katzenberg on Tru3D:The complete transcript
  Yay for more 3D movies!
  (tags: movies 3d cinema)

Comments

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I've been worried about serious inflation, even if it's not hyperinflation. I'm imagining the banks suddenly deciding to start lending, and the bailout money hitting the economy all at once. It's like trying to unclog a toilet with a fire hose.

[andrewducker]

Oh, absolutely.

In some ways it would be good (my mortgage would be a better deal if inflation was higher, as it's fixed for the next 5 years and isn't going to go up in price). Over all, not so much.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Inflating it away is the only practical way to deal with the huge debt burden. I strongly suspect that a lot of prominent Keynesians are thinking this, and others are starting to suss it. It's really quite wildly unfair, particularly on the prudent who have savings rather than debts (including pensioners and near-to-pensioners). And you then have to find some way of stopping it running away without generating yet more unemployment, and of encouraging savings rates back to some sustainable level ... the prospects are not great. Merry Christmas!