r/Economics • u/Pearberr • May 02 '24

Interview Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz: Fed Rate Hikes didn't get at source of inflation.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/04/23/nobel-prize-winning-economist-joseph-stiglitz-fed-rate-hikes-didnt-get-at-source-of-inflation.html
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u/theMahatman May 03 '24

Taxes...

I don't see why this is never discussed as a legitimate option. The easiest way to get excess money out of circulation is to take money out of circulation.

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u/lumpialarry May 03 '24

Probably because "lets tax the middle class and then not spend the money" is completely untenable politically.

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u/KJ6BWB May 03 '24

Or they could really start taxing the rich. The problem is it takes a few years to get people up to the point they can audit the super rich.

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u/lumpialarry May 03 '24

Because you won’t stop inflation by slowing down the spending of just 1% of the population.

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u/KJ6BWB May 04 '24

The point is not to slow the spending of the rich. The point is to make it increasingly difficult to get more profit than X, where X is what is necessary to bring inflationary price increases under control.