难道华尔街日报在旗帜鲜明地支持高通胀？

 

 

 

There is a school of thought that higher

inflation is exactly what the economy

needs.

 

The Wall Street Journal

last Sunday

ran a story, “

 

What This Country Needs

Is a Good 5% CPI

 

”…noting that the

economy’s primary challenge is high debt

levels of individuals, corporations, and

government entities.

The story suggested that higher

inflation would

make it easier

for all debtors to

repay high debt

levels with less

valuable dollars.

This approach,

featuring much

much higher

levels of inflation,

has been used by

various nations

all too frequently

in the past, many

in South and

Central America,

to repay fixed debts with currencies worth

much less.

The story also suggested that it was

higher inflation that helped end the Great

Depression, along with global involvement

in WWII. In addition, the story discussed

Japan’s long struggle with deflation, and

the challenges of escaping a deflationary

environment.

One could argue that temporarily

higher inflation could help stabilize

U.S. housing prices. At the same time,

however, keeping inflation at bay once it

has become more pervasive is no easy task.