Chapter 7, 8, & 9 Curiosities

Jed is correct. If you do not have assets that inflate (imagine a poor family with no money in the stock market, no gold, not owning a home, etc.) then inflation only hurts the purchasing power of the dollars you have in savings or the dollars you earn each month before you get a raise to keep up with inflation. The wealthy, however, benefit greatly from inflation. If you are a CEO being paid in stock, the stock of any particular company will only increase with inflation. CEOs are a hedge case, but consider, say, a doctor. They are much more likely to have a high enough income to get by with higher prices, and their assets (stocks, gold, home, lake house, etc.) are all increasing in price due to inflation. It truly is a curious case why progressives support policies that lead to inflation when inflation is a very regressive outcome.