My letter to the NY Times re: Currency debasement destroys capital

Re: Delight or Dread as Euro Falls

Dear Sirs,

Of all the economic fallacies perpetrated on the public by so-called "macro economists", recommending currency debasement as the path to economic recovery and permanent prosperity may well be the most destructive. Giving foreigners more units of one's own currency in order to spur export industries merely transfers wealth from current holders of one's own currency to exporters and foreigners. Exporters' price advantage, the purpose of money expansion, is quickly erased by the law of diminishing marginal utility. What is permanent, however, is the transfer of wealth. In effect, expansion of the money supply robs patient savers and impoverishes all of society.