Quote from Pekelo:
So HOW do we know when deflation switches to inflation?
When banks stop hoarding cash and resume consumer/business lending.
Money supply is created largely by the FED and Commercial Banks.
FED creates base money supply (M0), and Commercial Banks explode that base through fractional reserve lending. Yes, commercial banks create money though debt-based money creation.
Right now, the Banks are hoarding cash and cutting off consumer and business credit.
Dealerships can't get financing. Chrysler can't finance its cars. Credit Cards are getting cut and limits reduced, mortgages need 30% down + 5% over prime for 700 fico, etc etc.
Banks are hoarding all the bailout money from the FED and Treasury.
Debts being repaid or written off far exceed the level of new debts or loans being made = contraction of money supply = deflation.
When banks get off their asses and resume lending to street-level business and consumers, thats when inflation resumes, as business or private loan values are exploded through fractional reserve lending. Borrow 100, spend 100, recipient deposits that 100 and the bank can lend out 90, recipient gets 90, deposits it in the bank, and the bank can lend out 80$. The recipient gets 80$, deposits it in the bank, and the bank lends out 70$ etc etc.
The whole funny money system is built around the premise that debt and loans will continually be made at ever increasing levels or the money supply shrinks dramatically.
In order to get people borrowing again, the liquidity trap has to end.
The Banks are responsible for everything. They voted 0% rates, they brought about the housing bubble, they wrote all worthless derivatives they later bought. Now we have to bail their asses out and the deflation they're fear mongering is their own creation by hoarding cash.
Its a fucking joke.