US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen just said "I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take." Her mea culpa is certainly appreciated, but since her previous job was Chairwoman of the Fed, the statement is an understatement - to say the least.
I mean, how could she possibly believe that inflation would do anything other than soar after the Fed printed a torrent of money? Much more money in circulation, especially when rained freely upon the populace from helicopters in a very short time, is going to push prices up - period.
Think about it like a Roman emperor, say.. Caligula. You have been spending enormous amounts of gold aureii on debaucheries at the palace, ridiculous "naval" campaigns in manmade lakes, marrying your sister and making your favorite horse a Senator. The people, happy at first, are starting to get angry and you must placate them, fast. You decide to follow the tried and true (but very expensive) recipe of bread and circuses - but the Treasury is nearly empty. What do you do? Adulterate the coinage, of course.
The grain merchants and gladiator owners are not fooled by the flood of new less-than-golden aureii and immediately raise prices. Any similarity with today is purely coincidental. Or not.
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