O imposto-inflação
Um estudo da Yorskhire Building Society estima que o efeito combinado de taxas de juro artificialmente baixas (com taxas reais negativas) e da inflação levou à perda de cerca de 15% do valor real nos depósitos de poupança. Agora que alguns advogam o aumento da inflação com forme de saída da crise, importa saber que a inflação funciona como um imposto generalizado sobre os aforradores beneficiando claramente aqueles que se endividaram.
"The cumulative effect has been similar to a slow motion bank robbery, with savers suffering for the benefit of borrowers because inflation transfers wealth from the former to the latter by reducing the real value of debts as well as savings. This unstated policy is unlikely to change soon because the government is Britain’s biggest debtor and also the biggest beneficiary from negative real interest rates. No politician will say that savers must be punished for their prudence in order to protect borrowers from the consequences of excessive debt but that is what government policy amounts to."