>Oh, on the question at hand, does deflation only benefit bond holders?
>Can't it aid the centralization process as well--driving weaker capitals
>to the wall, allowing better positioned ones to pick them up for a song?
Yes. It benefits anyone with a solid horde of money. Yale built its residential colleges in the 1930s very cheaply because it had lots of money (courtesy of the Harkness criminal enterprise, I mean family), and was able to hire contractors for the proverbial song. According to Yale legend, an entire village of Italian artisans was imported to cut wood & stone & make the (often whimsical) stained glass.
Doug