The New York Times is reporting today on the US Budget deficit and how it should range in the trillion dollar a year level for years to come. The Times article parses blame for this (and there is plenty to go around) but the conclusion is that the political will to address the structural deficit in the budget through either higher taxes or cuts in government programs doesn’t exist. Thus we can continue to finance our deficit cheaply in only two ways- investors (and that means, given the sums involved, mostly foreign investors) or the Federal reserve bank through “injecting reserves into the system” that is printing money. And though much in economics seems to have changed since most of us took it in college they have not yet been able to repeal the law that says that more money chasing the same quantity of goods creates inflation.
And inflation is, or has been , good for stamp prices, both as an inflationary hedge and because of the increase in collector popularity that stamps receive with all the publicity over their value as a inflation hedge. Add to this mix that the baby boomers are reaching their collecting peak (ages 60-80 when free time, disposable income and slowing down favor hobbies like philately) and you have a potential perfect storm for our hobby. I have never been a stamp tout, but I have never been this optimistic on the midterm future of our hobby.