Is inflation inevitable in all successful economies? Throughout history, has there ever been a society that maintained 0% inflation for a long term while still maintaining a good quality of life?
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Inflation is inevitable in a *growing* economy. Inflation should be used to describe an increasing money supply, but layman usage has incorporated any increase in price into the definition which makes it harder to use. Price can go up and down because of supply vs demand, but that shouldn’t be called inflation. Price that goes up because of increasing money supply is inflation. M1, M2, and all these other designations are to show money supply that increases because you need more money in circulation to support a (supposedly) growing economy where new industries are entering the system, old ones are growing bigger, etc. Quality of life depends on time, place, and the social policies of a given society. And *whose* QOL we’re talking about here. Rich people? Working people? Domestically? Abroad? Money supply could also be going up because… Bankers (by which I mean the Federal Reserve). Wall Street. Shenanigans. Shady shit that media will explain to people so they understand the situation the “proper” way.
Is a stagnant economy that bad? Only if you’re a capitalist system that *must* grow and return a profit or else fall apart because literally no alternative. Capitalism is fundamentally unsustainable because resources are finite. Once you’ve captured every natural resource for profit, the only other resource left is other people. That’s why capitalism is also inherently imperialistic. If country A trades $100 worth of goods with country B, no one gained more. If country A enslaves country B, it’s all profit for A (minus investment in war). Nowadays, it’s economic warfare, geopolitics, alliances, trade wars. But if you’re the world’s leading military power with all the tech, nukes, and capital influence, you get what you want. And by “you” I mean the wealthy, obviously.
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