Mark Blyth

What is inflation? Inflation is a rise in the general level of all prices. It's everything going up. When people talk about house inflation, there's no such thing. That's just houses going up because we didn't build enough of them, right? And inflation is all prices in the economy going up at once. Now, wait. Hold on. It gets better. Hold on.

That makes sense to everybody, because it totally makes sense, right? Now, imagine you're looking at a glass of water, and you're looking at the top, and you've got that little line of silver at the top called the surface tension. When economists talk about inflation, they're actually looking at the surface tension.

That makes sense to everybody, because it totally makes sense, right? Now, imagine you're looking at a glass of water, and you're looking at the top, and you've got that little line of silver at the top called the surface tension. When economists talk about inflation, they're actually looking at the surface tension.

That makes sense to everybody, because it totally makes sense, right? Now, imagine you're looking at a glass of water, and you're looking at the top, and you've got that little line of silver at the top called the surface tension. When economists talk about inflation, they're actually looking at the surface tension.

Because what they talk about when they talk about inflation is the rate of change in that growth of prices. So let's take a simple example. I went to dinner on Sunday with my family. I ordered a short rib. I nearly fell off the seat because the damn thing cost $45. I was like, what?

Because what they talk about when they talk about inflation is the rate of change in that growth of prices. So let's take a simple example. I went to dinner on Sunday with my family. I ordered a short rib. I nearly fell off the seat because the damn thing cost $45. I was like, what?

Because what they talk about when they talk about inflation is the rate of change in that growth of prices. So let's take a simple example. I went to dinner on Sunday with my family. I ordered a short rib. I nearly fell off the seat because the damn thing cost $45. I was like, what?

And this is an effect that's happened in inflation. You know that stuff used to be $30, and then it went up to $40, and now it's stuck at $45, and it's never going to be $30 again. Now, when an economist tells you, ah, but inflation's been falling for the past six months, what they mean by that is the rate of change in how fast it's going up has been coming down. Ah. So, right?

And this is an effect that's happened in inflation. You know that stuff used to be $30, and then it went up to $40, and now it's stuck at $45, and it's never going to be $30 again. Now, when an economist tells you, ah, but inflation's been falling for the past six months, what they mean by that is the rate of change in how fast it's going up has been coming down. Ah. So, right?

And this is an effect that's happened in inflation. You know that stuff used to be $30, and then it went up to $40, and now it's stuck at $45, and it's never going to be $30 again. Now, when an economist tells you, ah, but inflation's been falling for the past six months, what they mean by that is the rate of change in how fast it's going up has been coming down. Ah. So, right?

This is it. It's the rate of change in the increase in prices. That's the inflation rate. Inflation as a phenomena is the general level of all prices going up.

This is it. It's the rate of change in the increase in prices. That's the inflation rate. Inflation as a phenomena is the general level of all prices going up.

This is it. It's the rate of change in the increase in prices. That's the inflation rate. Inflation as a phenomena is the general level of all prices going up.

100%.

100%.

100%.

That's a valedictorian. Got it.

That's a valedictorian. Got it.

That's a valedictorian. Got it.

So the basic understanding is the government spends too much money and that pushes up prices. That relies on you having a government that actually spends a lot of money, raises a lot of taxes, runs a lot of deficits, all this sort of stuff. And most of human history, I mean, we didn't even have a government. We had bloody anarchies running around the place and empires and stuff.