Even if there were some unpredictable fluctuations in the demand for money, the resulting disturbances to nominal incomes would be much less, he believed, than would result from attempts at discretionary management by central banks.
The boost to household finances from low inflation is also flagged up on Wednesday by supermarket Asda, which found the average UK household had £187 for discretionary spending in April 2015, an extra £17 a week compared with a year earlier.
Timing is a form of discretionary power previously held by the incumbent PM.
This would mean stopping payment of AA, which is not means-tested and is currently paid to 1.6 million people aged 65 or over at rates of £47.10 or £70.35 a week, costing £4.4bn, and converting it into a discretionary grant focused on those most in need.
Thanks to the Higher Education Act, the Department of Education DOEE) has the discretionary power to erase all federal student debt associated with Corinthian schools, and it doesn't need permission from a dysfunctional Congress to do so.
A poll by consultants Deloitte puts discretionary spending at a three-year high.
It said the BBC made further discretionary severance payments, such as compensation for terminating employees' contracts and car allowances, to 22 senior managers at a total cost of £510,000.
While central bankers in the 1970s and early 80s termed themselves "pragmatic monetarists", they remained determined to conduct monetary policy by discretionary variations in short-term interest rates.
Of 22 cases in which the BBC made extra discretionary payments totalling £510,000 the NAO said 16 were made as part of a "compromise agreement... to avoid possible disputes and agree mutually acceptable terms".
No alternative review mechanism was put in its place, but the justice secretary retained a discretionary power to release a prisoner in exceptional circumstances.
Cameron says this is exactly what the discretionary housing payments are for.
