Why We Are Not Seeing Price Inflation

The Keynesians are saying that price inflation is not a problem and probably won't arrive. The Austrians and others are saying that price inflation must come at some point, given all the monetary stimulus introduced by the Fed. But could they both be wrong?

I hypothesize that price inflation is already here. Please read my argument at this Seeking Alpha article.

Now you see it, now you don't.

Screen shot of the French movie "The Magician"
by George Melies, 1898, from Wikipedia Commons

Proof that Social Benefits Can Be Counterproductive

Publicly funded benefits such as welfare, food stamps, and other kinds of nationalized kindness are sometimes self-defeating. Would parents accept in their house and finance indefinitely the needs of an able-bodied grown person, plus his or her partner and their child, without expectation of a helping hand? Probably not. So why is it okay when society does it?

I have just received unequivocal proof that publicly funded welfare benefits destroy the incentive to work in some individuals and therefore cause an unnecessary drain on a society's collective resources.

How do I know this for a fact? I just got a letter from someone who owns a small apartment in France. She is advertising to rent it out, and this is what she writes:


"I got a call [from a prospective renter], but it doesn't sound good. She's a young girl with a child who lives about two hours from here, and who wants to move to [city] because her family is here. The problem is that she doesn't have a job, and she has a boyfriend who doesn't either, so they'd be three. The worst part is that she said, 'We don't plan on working, because with our State Family Benefits and our Minimum Reintegration Benefits, we have 1,000 euros, and we also qualify for Housing Benefits ….'" [E-mail from L.D. dated 1/3/2014]

I rest my case.

Brood Parasitism, as illustrated in Wikipedia.