“Fake” is tinged with suggestions of intent—and the people who charge false interest are hurting themselves and don’t understand what they’re doing, so I say “false”. “Real”—coined by Fisher—has been in use for a century, although its revision in light of Diamond et al is understood by few; anyhow, it gets at the fact that value is what matters, and money is what people think is the proper ruler because of naivety, which is too important to hide; that was Fisher’s life work, and he made a mark and would have succeeded completely but for some crucial mistakes. There’s no hidden assumption of lower taxes. The government will always take what it needs, but piling a hidden (indeed unconscious) tax onto interest rates—where it inhibits long-term investment—is a very destructive thing that shrinks the whole pie. The 2008 story is a great example of a naive government spending far more than it needed to dealing with a crisis caused by a defect whose fix is simple and cost-free.
“Fake” is tinged with suggestions of intent—and the people who charge false interest are hurting themselves and don’t understand what they’re doing, so I say “false”. “Real”—coined by Fisher—has been in use for a century, although its revision in light of Diamond et al is understood by few; anyhow, it gets at the fact that value is what matters, and money is what people think is the proper ruler because of naivety, which is too important to hide; that was Fisher’s life work, and he made a mark and would have succeeded completely but for some crucial mistakes. There’s no hidden assumption of lower taxes. The government will always take what it needs, but piling a hidden (indeed unconscious) tax onto interest rates—where it inhibits long-term investment—is a very destructive thing that shrinks the whole pie. The 2008 story is a great example of a naive government spending far more than it needed to dealing with a crisis caused by a defect whose fix is simple and cost-free.