276 THE BiG DROP
debt
energy sector’s bad, 88–91
in financing auto purchases, 264
foreign companies’ dollar, 264
real value of, increased under defla-
tion, 16–17
debt default
Chinese attitudes on, 76
coming, 82–86
debt service. See deficit finance
debt-deflation theory of depression,
70–71, 97–100
Debt-Deflation Theory of Great
Depressions, The (Fisher), 97–98
debt-to-GDP ratio
under deflation, 64
increasing, 10
under inflation, 69
debtors, enriched at expense of savers
and investors, 42–45
deficit finance
difficulty of, given lackluster growth, 16
monetary ease as stopgap for, 55
deflation. See also deflation dynamics
Fed facing, as obstacle to its goals,
68–70
generated by depression, 16–17, 27,
34–35
good and bad, 70–72
government threatened by, 64–65
interest-rate hikes unlikely in the
presence of, 117
protection against, 34–35, 58–59, 62,
68, 107, 211–12
short-run victory of, over inflation,
214, 246
symmetry or asymmetry of inflation
and, 63–64, 66
tax collections reduced by, 65
threat of, 63–72
United Kingdom’s post–World War I
policy of, 120–21
unstable relationship with inflation,
17, 27–28, 252
deflation dynamics, 27, 34, 97–100, 241
deflation expectations, BOJ’s intention
to shock the public out of its, 137deflation stress test, on investment per-
formance of precious metals, 217–18
deleveraging
multiplier effect limited by, 95
path to, not yet taken, 10
democracy, as obstacle to power elites’
plans, 6
depression. See also depression dynam-
ics; Great Depression; New
Depression
debt-deflation theory of, 97–100
definition of, 13, 241
evidence for and against current
presence of, 14–15
in Japan, as example of indefinite
delay of structural change, 17
monetary remedy attempted for, 34
recessions distinguished from, 16,
240–41
structural nature of, 34, 241
depression dynamics, 15–17, 27–28,
34, 97–100. See also depression
derivatives
in the energy sector, 89–93
ultimate bearers of risk of, 91
digital money
in the future, 252
government control through, in
dystopian future, 5
digital scanners
government control through, in
dystopian future, 4
of retinas, passports displaced by, 7
dissent, suppression of, in dystopian
future, 5
dollar. See also strong dollar; weak
dollar
black market for the, 128
challenges to dominance of, 23–25
currencies pegged to, 141
as digital crypto-currency, 230
displacement of pound sterling by, to
become world’s reserve curency, 21
emergence of, as world’s reserve cur-
rency, 19–22
exchange rate against the euro of
the, 123