For many of us, inflation has just been a way of life, its just what happens every year, the prices of things just go up a little bit. That’s the way the world works, right? Well that isn’t always how the world has worked. Below is a chart showing the value of $1 from the founding of the United States.
As you can see for most of the history of the United states the dollar fluctuated around the same value, through wars, expansion, and incredible technological change. From the tiny far flung colonies to the mighty power house that the US became early in the 20th century, the dollar’s value remained fairly stable. It is only in the last 60 to 70 years that inflation has become the norm. That is because we went from a monetary system outside the control of the government (Gold) to one totally within the control of the government (fiat). There are many serious consequences to that change in direction, and we are only now starting to feel them, spiraling debt, unfunded deficits, spiking inequality…