Inflation is a "tax" on owning money, an equalizing force if you will. Deflation is a "tax" imposed that benefits large holders of the currency on people who hold less or none of that currency.
There is ofcourse also the moral argument for inflation: society pays you because you it values what you sold or did. That valuable service is not going to be worth as much 50 years into the future, so inflation is the cost imposed on withholding that money from public circulation for your private benefit of being able to decide 50 years later what you do with that money for a thing you did back then.
Inflation is a tax for poor people who don't and often can't hold assets that appreciate with time. It not only makes their savings worth less, but also makes their fixed salary have less buying power.
The wealthy love inflation since it's just going to pump their assets and redistribute money from the poor into their pockets.
Inflation doesn't just negatively affect holders of the currency.
It also negatively affects earners of the currency.
When your salary is constantly getting devalued, employers effectively get to constantly cut your salary while saying with straight face that they haven't done anything.
Now, everyone on this forum is well educated and valuable enough to be able to regularly negotiate salary increases. It's poor and uneducated people who get most taken advantaged by it.
Just look at how minimum wage is a never ending fight.
Inflation gives employers and the holders of capital the high ground fighting to maintain the status quo of wages and forces the poor and desperate to take time out of their personal lives to fight for more pay.
> Inflation is a "tax" on owning money, an equalizing force if you will. Deflation is a "tax" imposed that benefits large holders of the currency on people who hold less or none of that currency.
The problem is that these “large holders of currency” are the poorest people. Rich people have their wealth invested in various assets, e.g. stocks, bonds, land. The poorest people live paycheck to paycheck and can’t possibly invest in anything.
