Interesting, Katia. So this means that you cannot leave land fallow to regenerate it, or it may be expropriated? I wonder if one unintended consequence of those flimsy property rights is too destroy the farming soil, leading to failing crops, leading to reduced wealth and food overall. And yes, why is the U.S. government so antagonistic to authoritarian regimes overseas; could it be envy?

It has been corrected. Thanks for pointing it out!

Joe DiGirolamo commented on Like fish in a barrel. - Atlas Sound Money Project:

It is sickening to know that the heads of our monetary system speak so ignorantly about spending. I understand that spending less is a decision a family might make to decrease and pay off their own debt, but this decision is based off consequences. If the family doesn't pay it off, there are penalties. This leaves responsibility with the 'family'. The government's debt, on the other hand, becomes the citizen's problem. There are no consequences: which you would expect from an entity spending someone else's money. Where's the incentive?

(Reposted by Admin, apologies for the glitch.)

And why wouldn't they want the assets back? If they fail again, just resell them to the Fed again!

In some respects, you could make the case that Somalia has done this with their currency. It has been counterfeited down to the price of ink and paper, meaning it's relatively stable. Such a strategy would be effective at tying the hands of the central bank. It would be just as unprofitable for the bank to expand the money supply as it would be for anyone else. But as Hardy and Friedman point out in that article (1951 in the Journal of Political Economy), there would be great difficulty in convincing people to accept bricks.

A further question would be to what extent we want the money supply to vary versus letting the prices vary. And to what extend the latter actually happens.

Thank you for the update. I reposted a link to the 2006 article, as I enjoyed reading it and thought I would highlight it further.

I had not thought about that when I posted it. I thought their list of the problems of inflation were worth sharing (and it is), but you're right. Reading it again in light of your comments does make it more enjoyable. Thanks for the comments.