But to borrow you need lenders. Plus, you have to pay interest, which people notice. Immeasurably more largesse derives from dollars conjured out of thin air by the Fed. Inflation is the perfectest of taxes from government’s point of view. It’s mostly hidden, easily blamable on other factors, and no one likes the hardest hit—savers—anyway.
People and countries will lend to the government on a gold standard.
If you look at the FED balance sheet, they weren’t conjuring dollars out of thin air until 2008 when the crisis hit. And they can unconjure those dollars by selling the treasury bills they bought on the open market just as quick as they conjured them. But the economy has to be strong enough to absorb them and no one is talking about trade policy and putting Americans back to work.
The Fed has a good track record on inflation. A small amount of inflation is preferable to deflation which causes depressions. The dollar has been considerably more stable on a year to year basis under the FED than it ever was on the gold standard.
If savers put the money in a bank they’ll draw interest and offset inflation. if they invest they will beat inflation. It’s only those that want to hoard money in their mattress for 90 years, that a small rate of annual inflation hurts.
Currency is there to faciliate economic transactions not to be a long term store of value. if you want long term store of value take your currency and buy gold or land or whatever real asset you want. Don’t screw up the economy by tying the currency to an asset that tends to be deflationary in nature and subject to speculators like Soros.