| Many Americans assume that inflation is rising. They fear that the recent increase in commodity prices will lead to higher finished goods producer prices and then higher consumer prices. This fear is intensified because people tend to notice when prices go up for products they buy most often.
As economist A. Gary Shilling points out in a recent commentary, such “widespread fears of inflation are understandable. Historically, inflation is a wartime phenomenon when government spending is huge, while deflation reigns in peacetime. Still, the nation suffered a uniquely long 60 years of war, which started with rearmament in the late 1930s, was followed by World War II, which promptly gave way to the Cold War that was augmented by the War on Poverty. So, most Americans have never experienced anything but inflation, which they believe is the way God made the world.” |
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