When the prevailing narrative, supported by Fed actions, is that the economy will 'run hot,' it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Consumers and institutions alter their behavior by borrowing more and buying hard assets, which in turn fuels actual inflation.
After a decade of zero rates and QE post-2008, the financial system can no longer function without continuous stimulus. Attempts to tighten policy, as seen with the 2018 repo crisis, immediately cause breakdowns, forcing central banks to reverse course and indicating a permanent state of intervention.
Holding cash is a losing strategy because governments consistently respond to economic crises by printing money. This devalues savings, effectively forcing individuals to invest in assets like stocks simply to protect their purchasing power against inflation.
The primary driver of wealth inequality isn't income, but asset ownership. Government money printing to cover deficit spending inflates asset prices. This forces those who understand finance to buy assets, which then appreciate, widening the gap between them and those who don't own assets.
Decades of currency debasement through money printing have made asset ownership essential for wealth preservation. Since a house is the most intuitive asset for the average person, owning one transformed from a component of the American Dream into a compulsory defense against inflation.
Technological innovation should naturally cause deflation (falling prices). The Fed's 2% inflation target requires printing enough money to first counteract all technological deflation and then add 2% on top, making the true inflationary effect much larger than officially stated.
Phenomena like bank runs or speculative bubbles are often rational responses to perceived common knowledge. People act not on an asset's fundamental value, but on their prediction of how others will act, who are in turn predicting others' actions. This creates self-fulfilling prophecies.
A condition called "fiscal dominance," where massive government debt exists, prevents the central bank from raising interest rates to cool speculation. This forces a flood of cheap money into the market, which seeks high returns in narrative-driven assets like AI because safer options can't keep pace with inflation.
A clear statement from a financial leader like the Fed Chair can instantly create common knowledge, leading to market movements based on speculation about others' reactions. Alan Greenspan's infamous "mumbling" was a strategic choice to avoid this, preventing a cycle of self-fulfilling expectations.
The word "inflation" is a deliberately implanted euphemism that makes monetary debasement sound like positive growth. The reality is that money is depreciating and its purchasing power is being stolen. Reframing it as "monetary depreciation" reveals the true, negative nature of the process and shifts public perception from a necessary evil to outright theft.
The original definition of inflation is an expansion of the money supply. By shifting the definition to mean rising prices (a consequence), governments can deflect blame for inflation onto businesses, unions, or foreign events, rather than their own money-printing policies.