Privilege Inflation

Inflated Word: The understanding and resolution of inflation is complicated because of an inherent contradiction: One has more symbols of wealth but less substance. In other words, you have a bigger paycheck that buys less. Inflation: An Inflated Word

Cheapening: One thing about inflation is how it cheapens your life when your pay does not go as far as it once did. Inflation cheapening echos its semanatic cousins: flattery and flatulence.

Time: Time is the common economic theme in Timism, i.e., The Morality of More Time. Inflation cheapens your time. Inflation cheapens the symbols of your time. Currency derives from "what is your time currently worth."

Monflation: Traditionally, inflation is described as more money chasing the same goods and services. But, mathematrically, inflation could be the same amount of money chasing fewer goods and services, e.g., war-time scarcity. Or, when corporations short-change consumers by smaller amounts of products for the same cost. Shortage inflation is sinflation.

Deflation: Like inflation, deflation has a contradiction. Usually, referencing the 1930s Great Depression, it is less money chasing the same amount of goods and services. Sellers lower prices to gain some income even they take a loss. Unsold stock is worth nothing. In a funny money mind, deflation is synonymous with rising unemployment which reduces disposable income meaning less demand and lower prices. But, the 1930s was a period of inflation if one looks at the cheapening of human time. See how the US Federal Reserve cheapens workers' time in playing with interest rates--DumbFed.org.

Productive Deflation: Rarely referenced in discussing deflation is the backbone of progress and the rising standard of living: Productive Deflation. As technology lowers the cost of production, productive deflation is possible if corporate greed shares the lower production costs with consumers.

Production time is the true cost of anything. Time costs transcends the boundaries of centuries and of nations. Symbolic costs are the funny numbers of currencies. Whether you pay in dollars, euros, or whatever, a loaf of bread that takes an hour to produce is more expensive than one costing only ten minutes. Politicians should maintain parity between symbols and substance of time. But, they don't. Therein is the core systemic sore of inflation.

Climate Change: In the last century, a worsening component of inflation  has been climate change. In destroying food production by droughts, fires, floods and hurricanes, sudden and long-term shortages lead to "sinflation"--shortage inflation.

Over-Populationm: Each year, millions of people are added to the list of climate change refugees including U.S. victims of natural disasters. Another inflation component is more mouths to feed: In 2024, 350,000 babies are born each day or about 1 billion each year. Almost 50% of the people who have lived in recorded history (the last 10,000 years) are still alive today. Mother Nature cannot afford us so she is making us pay with pain and suffering. Yes, the Bible said to go forth and multiply, but that was when there was only two people in the Garden of Eden.

Non-Producers Inflation: Inflation from climate change and pro-litter choirs is nothing compared to the oldest source of inflation, the non-producer. Raiders who took the crops of the invaded were a source of inflationary cheapening of their victims. Inflationary suffering occurs without money. Money makes it easier to index the cheapening of life and to cheapen lives. Politicans who take food for other economic areas foster inflationary suffering, e.g;. In 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainians were killed in the Holodomor, a man-made famine engineered by the Soviet government of Joseph Stalin. Inflation is a cheapening of time.

Productive Deflation #2: If one's income rises as one produces more goods and services, one does not cause inflation. More often than not, the efficient producer initiates productive deflation, that is, lower prices. But if one's income rises without producing any goods or services, societies producers must pay higher prices as more money is chasing the same goods and services.

Welfare Inflation: An example of a non-producer is the bank robber. Another example is the welfare recipient. Worse of all is the privileged wealthfare recipient whose legal, illogical income dwarfs the tax dole of a welfare recipient.

Wealthfare Inflation arises in a corrupt political process where the lawmakers use the public legislation to enact private laws (privileges) for special interests. Rich entitlements cost more than the frequently cited poor entitlements. The muddled-class cost is is two-fold: higher taxes and systemic inflation. (Remember, what the Queen of Mean said, "We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes.")

401k Pension Thieves: An analogy--You buy a car only to find out that the seller had copied the title and sold it to ten different people. Everyday, corporate insiders give themselves massive stock options which are sold into workers' 401ks. Since 1980, thanks to 401ks, workers have lost 90% of their retirements, aka, pensions. 401ks are the biggest legal bank robbery in history. If you duplicate your stock, you go to jail. But if you buy a corporation and "re-capitalize" it by increasing the number of shares, you go on vacation with workers' savings. Or, you start a corporation giving yourself millions of dollars in stock that you drip, drip sell into 401k plans.

Give us your daily bread: An analogy: Someone buys your car for a low price promising to maintain it and lease it back for a small monthly payment. At a chop shop, the buyer strips your car leaving you with a useless metal frame. In years past, the mafia would buy a company, sell off the building, and load the company up with debt. They would no longer pay for inventory, taxes or loans. The mafia was prosecuted under the RICO Act. Today, corporate raiders buy business chains and bankupt them with debt while selling off the assets. (Search "Private Equity" on YouTube)

(Very galling is who lends money to the corporate raiders to purchase viable, profitable businessess: Your bank, pension, church, insurance and Judas.)

Systemic, chronic inflation: The inflationary impact of privileged non-producers is systemic. The richest buy yatchs. The middlings buy vacation homes. The lesser non-producers gentrify old neighborhoods. All cause inflation that harms the local worker or aged homeowner. This unearned, non-productive money causes widespread inflation as the "decapitalists" compete with working producers for shared common goods. Your mechanic switches from domestic repairs to foreign cars because the rich pay more.

Summary: Inflation is first-and-foremost a cheapening of your time with or without money. The main cause of inflation is non-producers with unearned income who drive up prices for society's producers. Habitual politcians are behind "privileged inflation" as they use public law-making to enact private laws for a few. Presidents can tweak inflation. But, the habitual politicians in Congress instigate the privilege inflation behind workers' inflationary cheapening and suffering.

Capitalism is victim of identity. Wall Streeters have hijacked the terms and tools of capitalism to decapitalize businesses and decapitate jobs--Decapitalism: Economic Bloodshed. Instead of capitalism per capita we have capitalism for a fewer few.