Cat sighting

It will be instructive to track folks' acceptance of an inflationary resolution to the debt hole the global economy now finds itself in. It is, of course, the only way out, but at the same time it remains the forbidden fruit of policy options, the solution that dare not speak its name, etc. and it is easy to see why: the monetary system as we know it is based on credit, from credere - to believe - and the moment creditors stop believing, things can unravel quite quickly. It remains though that the benefits of such measures will seep into the public debate as other approaches fail and options become increasingly limited. Whether it will proceed along the classic stages of grief -- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance -- remains to be seen. But expect more mentions, and expect these to become more supportive over time. Necessity being the mother of invention, of some variant thereof. A first posting to this effect is here.

The clip below falls very clearly into the "acceptance" stage of inflation as the cure for excessive debt. Released in 1933, just after FDR revalued the dollar, the grandfatherly narrator walks the viewer though the wonderful tonic that is inflation and how it will better their lives. And surely, to the average viewer, the narrator is right. (The creditors were another story...) What is particularly telling is how inflation had to be explained, as though it were a foreign concept, which it surely was. (That's the gold standard for ya.) Nowadays, the phenomenon is the object of scorn and ridicule, and it is in this light that the clip, which has gone viral, is now treated. This too will change...