Oddbean new post about login | logout because 'inflation' means monetary debasement, not 'prices went up' -- prices going up is a consequence of inflation.
If you want a deeper dive into this question, check out - Murray Rothbard, [The Mystery of Banking](https://mises.org/library/book/mystery-banking); or - Ludwig von Mises, [The Theory of Money and Credit](https://mises.org/library/book/theory-money-and-credit)
Ok…adding these to my list!
So “prices going up” retains a correlation to inflation but inflation is not the causation of increased prices? Debasement (or otherwise people agreeing XYZ widget is worth more)?
Think of it this way: every new dollar printed makes existing dollars less valuable (inflation), so eventually it takes more dollars to buy the same stuff as before (increased prices). Another major aspect of inflation is artificial credit expansion by the fractional reserve banking system--which increases massively when the Fed lowers interest rate targets. There's a great video series by Mike Maloney on YouTube called The Hidden Secrets of Money (just skip the one on Hedera hashgraph). 🤙
Added this to my watch list too. Have to balance consuming (even if it is for learning) vs creating.
Re: “eventually it takes more dollars to buy the same stuff as before” That is the heart of my question and OP… If price in dollars goes up; why wouldn’t I as a business owner just also raise the number of Sats required to purchase said “Apple” (thing)? (As I continued to type I think I unlocked the answer) A business owner could do this and some might, but savvy customers will choose other suppliers because the two currencies (fiat and BTC) are moving counter to one another. Therefore if the store owner raises sats required alongside fiat price; they are doing themselves a disservice as they will ultimately lose market share, or the customer will just pay in fiat while (potentially) getting the Apple for free in fiat terms becasue BTC price has increased asymmetrically to the decline of fiat value
good point!