Inflation Is Theft

I'm a writer and a thinker, which means I'm always thinking about quite a few different things. today those thoughts amount to a quick little primer on inflation, by way of a different way of looking at things.

Most people fail to realize that inflation truly is theft, plain and simple.  So allow me to demonstrate.

Suppose you have $10, and the list of things to purchase is as follows:

    -Bread 50 cents a loaf.

    -Milk $1 a gallon

    -Movie ticket $2.00

    -Gas 50 cents a gallon

Don’t laugh, these were real prices back in the day (actually, gas was closer to 35 cents a gallon when I was a kid, but I’m trying to keep the math simple).

For that $10 you can get 1 loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, 2 theater tickets, and 9 gallons of gas.  Sounds great.  But now suppose someone raises those prices to these:

    -Bread $1 a loaf

    -Milk $2 a gallon

    -Movie ticket $4.00

    -Gas $1.00 a gallon.

Now you can only afford a loaf of bread, gallon of milk, just the one movie ticket for yourself, and only 3 gallons of gasoline.  But hey, that’s not theft, right?  You still have your original $10, you just have to tighten your belt a bit.  Okay then, suppose now we’re at:

    -Bread $1.50 a loaf

    -Milk $3.00 a gallon

    -Movie ticket $3.00

    -Gas $1.50 a gallon

Now you’re faced with getting the loaf of bread, gallon of milk, and skip the movie if you want to put 3 gallons of gas in your car and have $1 left over.  But this still isn’t theft, because I still have my original $10, it just doesn’t buy as much but at least now I have a dollar left over, right?

Now let’s try it a different way.  The prices are as they were originally and will never change, however, before you’re about to make your purchases someone STEALS $5 away from your $10.  That is clearly thievery, call the cops.  But wait, with the original prices, your $5 will still buy you 1 loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, the one movie ticket, and three gallons of gasoline; the EXACT same amount you could get when inflation doubled the prices.

Now suppose that a thief stole $6.67 from your $10.  Even bigger thievery, right?  But you would still be able to buy the exact things when prices had tripled for your original $10, so why is this now thievery and it wasn’t when the prices were going up but you still had your full $10?

There is literally no difference between the two; the final verdict is in your effective buying power.  Inflation is thievery pure and simple, and the guys/bankers behind it are the thieves.  You have to wonder when you’re being told that your $1 can feed some third-world African kid for a week that if maybe– while they are still very much poor– if their local currency isn’t perhaps a lot stronger than ours.  Who then is the third-world economy?  We have the neat high-tech toys, but that does not prosperity make.