For people that have a hard time understanding why you can't just print money, I use the example of stocks. Most people understand that at a very basic level stocks give you a percentage ownership in a company. If there are 1 million stocks and you own one, you own one millionth of the company. If that company decides to issue another million stocks, it doesn't double the value of the company. Instead it cuts the value of each stock by half. Money is nothing but stock in the entire economy. When the Fed prints money they're counting on using it at full value because it takes all the stockholders awhile to figure out that their holdings are worth less because more stocks have been issued. It's similar to a Ponzi scheme with the Fed at the top.