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scatters | 2 years ago

No, they couldn't. One person's savings is another person's debt. If everyone tries to save then no one can; this is the paradox of thrift.

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HideousKojima|2 years ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_thrift#Criticisms

Just because someone gives it a formal name doesn't mean it's true.

>One person's savings is another person's debt.

Only if you treat fiat currency (or bank deposits in general, the paradox you mention was formulated long before we got off the gold standard) as the only possible form of savings.

scatters|2 years ago

Sticking gold in a vault is only a means to saving if you have a reasonable expectation that when you take it out you can use it to obtain goods and services. It is thus a disguised claim on future production, and so relies on debt to exactly the same degree as bank money.