Notes on inflation and more arrant nonsense

I similarly noted in a little piece posted late yesterday on the total amount of spending in these first couple packages from the administration that one reader asked how I got into the position I have today without knowing anything about inflation.  One possible answer is "grade inflation." But the real truth is not only do ...

I similarly noted in a little piece posted late yesterday on the total amount of spending in these first couple packages from the administration that one reader asked how I got into the position I have today without knowing anything about inflation. 

I similarly noted in a little piece posted late yesterday on the total amount of spending in these first couple packages from the administration that one reader asked how I got into the position I have today without knowing anything about inflation. 

One possible answer is "grade inflation." But the real truth is not only do I know about inflation, I thought that all of you in the sophisticated FP readership universe did, too. 

My little exercise in arithmetic was nothing but a factoid, pure and simple, designed to help put where we have ended up in perspective. Of course, as it turned out, I had the number for the financial package a little low, so it would actually took from 1789 to 1972 to spend the 3.3 trillion that might well be covered by the stimulus and the financial rescue. 

The point is, inflation aside, it’s a lot of money. Ok? Jeesh. Some of the comments I get are such arrant nonsense. 

Arrant. Arrant. Arrant. All right, I’m over it. 

David Rothkopf is visiting professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His latest book is The Great Questions of Tomorrow. He has been a longtime contributor to Foreign Policy and was CEO and editor of the FP Group from 2012 to May 2017. Twitter: @djrothkopf

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