The Inflationary Years

There are a few tricks to surviving an epidemic of Hyper-Inflation that some have learned in those countries that have suffered from it over the last few decades. Unfortunately, much of it involved being so wealthy that you are able to shift your assets overseas using professional services that are only available to few people, and there being a asset or country where your investments would be safe from the inflationary pressures. The rest of us do not have this kind of access, and are dependent on effective policies to sustain our affordability of food, shelter and heat.

Three policy approaches that are likely to transform the inflationary situation into a harsh reality are already being applied. As you read this, in whatever country you currently reside, you are likely noticing it daily.

When a government begins focusing on a new crisis post Covid, even when Covid is still an effective burden on most countries, there is likely the motivation to change from a formally stable economic and political situation to one that benefits a few individuals. While these late 2021 crises are a surprise to many in the community, they always seem to be characterised by a sensational and immediate problem often not realised during Covid or to any great degree before Covid. They almost always tend to try and bypass any regulatory measures and oversight in the rapid application of these virtual emergency policies. While some of these quick applications may benefit the community, any policy that seeks to work around established policies and laws that were formed over time in a democratic and measured process will almost always fail to a degree, and likely will benefit few in a society.

An appropriate Government measure during a time of uncontrolled and severe inflation is to try and reduce the costs of living for average people. Policies by law should not add pressure to families and individuals that may drive them further into poverty, as it will likely keep them there for many years to follow. They effectively have no consideration for the basic needs of their citizens. Any country that has planned tax increases for any reason at this time of worldwide inflation are likely not going to recovery from it quickly and will enshrine a lost generation. A balanced budget is always important, and a measured response to economic pressures is the principal job of community leaders. If a government doesn’t care about you basic costs of living, they don’t care about your family, your shelter, and in cold countries, your heat in winter. Those who offer policies such as these should not be in charge of taking care of anyone. A policy producing added economic pressures on top of inflation is more often than not a corruption tax.

In the past, most countries that suffered from endemic inflation also suffered from systemic corruption. While inflation is not a direct cause of corruption, the measures to control the regulatory and legal structures of a society can be manipulated during these economic struggles to permanently harm a democratic and fair political, economic and legal system. Everyone worldwide is either in an early recovery phase of Covid or are presently dealing with great challenges due to Covid, and are at a weak point in their personal lives. If a government seeks to change society in any major way while its population is distracted and approaching an impoverished state, they are more often than not doing it for their own political and economic benefit. There should be a moratorium on drastic measures to change a society until we have had a few years to return to normalcy.

The post-Covid era is not much different than other eras where we have struggled, and we strived and reconstructed societies back to stability. There are no individuals who will miraculously better a society when it has had hundreds of years of successful and established democracy and diminished poverty by applying a grand policy at the weakest point held by a society. A country spending more in the last two years, than it has in the last century and through two World Wars is not a country that appreciates it own evolution of freedom and democratic stability. Keep your focus on your leaders, and do not allow them to turn your community into their new projects in the coming years.