15/08/07 18:04:43.90 axEIiAwj.net
>>168の続き
32. And, vice versa, deflation caused by the debt reacts on the debt. Each dollar
of debt still unpaid becomes a bigger dollar, and if the over-indebtedness
with which we started was great enough, the liquidation of debts cannot
keep up with the fall of prices which it causes. In that case, the liquidation
defeats itself. While it diminishes the number of dollars owed, it may not do so
as fast as it increases the value of each dollar owed. Then, the very effort of
individuals to lessen their burden of debts increases it, because of the mass
effect of the stampede to liquidate in swelling each dollar owed. Then,
we have the great paradox which, I submit, is the chief secret of most, if not all,
great depressions: The more the debtors pay, the more they owe. The more
the economic boat tips, the more it tends to tip. It is not tending to right itself,
but is capsizing.