Inflation seems to be at the top of many folks minds these days. Prices going up on almost everything essential – food, fuel, housing. Economists define “inflation” as a sustained general increase in price levels – affecting virtually everything, but they classify price increases in relatively few items as simply local market price situations, not inflation. What is the inflation that we have today?
Inflation has become a huge concern lately. As defined both by products price increases and by money supply increases, inflation has jumped noticeably after many years of relative stability. Is this just yet another blip in our COVID-scrambled world, or something much worse? Why do we have inflation? What turns it into a potential monster? Pretty important questions today.
Is inflation real? Yup. Is this good or bad? Depends on who you are. Good if your income is growing faster than prices, or you can keep ahead of the game by borrowing. Bad if your income growth lags price growth and you can’t borrow enough to make up the difference. Is that all I need to know about inflation? Nope.
