This billionaire thinks the Fed is missing the hyperinflation in the Hamptons
Never underestimate the ingenuity of inflation truthers. Every time it seems like they've hit rock bottom intellectually, they manage to come up with new and even more ridiculous reasons for why inflation is supposedly higher than the official numbers say it is.
But, of course, like any conspiracy theory, it all starts off sounding plausible enough. First, they say the government understates inflation when it adjusts for the quality of goods and how people substitute for similar but cheaper ones. The only problem is that independent measures, like MIT's Billion Prices Project, have shown inflation is pretty much what the government says it is (although there's been a very slight difference the past few months). Then they point out that some prices are increasing more than the weighted average of all prices, as if this proves there's some kind of subterfuge going on. But that's just how averages work.
Which brings us to Paul Singer. He's the hedge fund billionaire who's made a small part of his fortune buying bonds from countries on the edge of default, and then suing them to get paid in full.* (This hasn't worked quite as well with Argentina). Well, it turns out that he has some very idiosyncratic ideas about what inflation actually looks like. His latest investor letter recycles all these ideas, inveighing against the Fed's "fake prices," "fake money," and "fake jobs," before zeroing in on where inflation is really showing up — his wallet:
Check out London, Manhattan, Aspen and East Hampton real estate prices, as well as high-end art prices, to see what the leading edge of hyperinflation could look like.
That's right: Paul Singer thinks Weimar-style inflation might be coming because he has to pay more for his posh vacation homes and art pieces.
more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/06/heres-the-latest-dumb-argument-from-a-billionaire-that-will-hurt-the-economy/
= new reply since forum marked as read
