>In addition, interest rates on credit card debt as high as 30% did not discourage consumers from maxing them out anyways.

You are right, once someone is cornered they will take what they can get and they no longer feel that they have the luxury of thinking even one step ahead. After that, the borrower resigns himself to the feeling that he has nothing left to lose, which is liberating in a way.

The conclusion is that money supply is being adjusted for all the wrong reasons and those who push the buttons may not even be able to identify the guidelines for prudent control of the supply.

If money supply is not the yard stick, and I think we agreed that (some definition of) labor is, what units do we use for this yard stick? Calories/Jules, etc. doesn't work. Hours worked is not quite good either.