Talk about inflation
I remember one day last year, I went to buy food and pancakes after work. Just handed two yuan of pancake money to Aunt Zhang, who sells pancakes, when Aunt Zhang suddenly heaved a sigh: "His big brother, this money is shameful!" "
"Money sent? Can money be as hairy as steamed bread that you don't eat for a few days? "
Aunt continued to sigh: "The price of this dish is so long, and it will be lost if it is done again. What's going on here? In the past, earning a few hundred dollars a month was not enough, but now a month 1500 is still not enough. What's wrong? "
Poor Aunt Zhang! What she is talking about is inflation. What is more pitiful is that she has no education and will never understand why the more money she earns, the more she never spends. Alas! Who told you that you have no culture? Now I know the benefits of learning culture, but it's too late!
The intuitive feeling of inflation is that money is worthless. The language used by ordinary people is more vivid: Mao. As for what hair is, I haven't figured it out yet. The causes of inflation are really complicated, and economists have not reached a conclusion and debated endlessly. Today, the Nobel laureate in economics and the outstanding economist of the Earth Investment Group said: Inflation is caused by the national deficit. Tomorrow, Duck Breast, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and chief economist of Solar System Investment Group, stands up and says: Wrong! Inflation is caused by the speed of money circulation. The day after tomorrow, Goose Breast, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and chief economist of Galaxy Investment Group, said: You are all wet! Inflation is caused by the laws of the market economy itself. It is impossible to say that one of the donkey breasts of the universe investment group will stand up and express new views the day after tomorrow. These "skis" quarrel all day, which makes ordinary people like me dizzy all day. After reading so many books, I can't draw a conclusion by scratching my head. But one thing is certain: inflation is definitely caused by the fact that the amount of money is growing faster than the physical wealth. Inflation has greatly damaged the wealth of ordinary people.
The poor aunt Zhang in front should not have sold pancakes yet. You always stop first. Here's a demonstration for you to see the harm of inflation. Suppose Aunt Zhang likes saving money very much. She deposited in 900 yuan five years ago and has been in the bank ever since. Let's assume that five years ago, 300 yuan a catty of bean sprouts. Aunt Zhang is very happy today: "Haha, I have 900 yuan, so I can buy 3 Jin of bean sprouts!" " "When Aunt Zhang came to the market, she was dumbfounded. Bean sprouts are a kilo in 900 yuan today. 900 yuan can only buy a catty of savings, maybe the hawker is still short of two catties. Of course, Aunt Zhang must be heartbroken. Regardless of whether she is sad or not, let's take a look at some economic principles embodied in this example.
A kilo of bean sprouts in 300 yuan is now a kilo in 900 yuan. In other words, 900 yuan is now equal to 300 yuan, but unlike 600 yuan, the inflation rate is three times. This 600 yuan money can't just go in like a soap bubble. Who did you give the money to? I guess you guessed it and gave it to the bean sprout seller. Aunt Zhang came and went in the wind and rain, and 600 of the 900 yuan exchanged for sweat was given to the vendors for free. Why can manufacturers get money for free? Because people can raise prices. In other words, although the inflation rate is three times, it has not caused any loss to the vendors. Aunt Zhang is no matter how powerful, the 900 yuan saved will not go up anyway.
Through this short play, we can think that the wealth of two kinds of people will not be lost under inflation. First, the government, because the government can engage in deficit finance. What is deficit finance? In other words, the government has to invest even if it doesn't have enough funds. What shall we do? Just print more money. We know that a certain amount of money represents a certain amount of material wealth. The government has no money, that is, it doesn't have so much physical wealth. Printing a little more money is actually equivalent to taking part of social wealth into your own hands for free. Since it can be levied free of charge, inflation will certainly not affect him. In addition, since it is levied free of charge, it means that someone has to bear the loss. Who will bear the loss? It turns out that material wealth in society doesn't need that much money. If the government prints so much money at once, prices will definitely go up. Therefore, the second person who is not affected by inflation is an investor. Although the government has plundered a lot of wealth from these people for free, their products can increase in price. By raising the price, the loss was passed on to others. That's what the vendor who sold a catty of bean sprouts from 300 yuan to 900 yuan did before. Finally, the real losers are those who rely on fixed income and savings, including Aunt Zhang. They have to buy goods with rising prices, and they can't transfer their losses through rising prices. Some smart people will say, can't these ordinary people get a raise? I think you’ve put your finger on it. But haven't you thought that wages are the embodiment of labor value? So many workers have to compete together. Your labor force is not a scarce resource. Due to the competition among workers, wages simply can't exceed the inflation rate. Of course, if a soldier is extinct, his salary will definitely rise above the inflation rate. However, there are few heroes and many ordinary people. When it comes to saving, it's easier to discuss. You can't increase your savings anyway. Aunt Zhang saved 900 yuan in 900 yuan for five years, but 600 yuan made a donation. So some Americans have said: What is the most severe tax? Not income tax, not inheritance tax, but inflation tax.
By the way, deficit finance. Deficit finance has indeed played an important role in stimulating economic development and maintaining economic stability. However, if used improperly, it will also aggravate inflation, thus accelerating the polarization between the rich and the poor and leading to social injustice. I love and hate deficit finance. In the history of China, the new emperor Wang Mang engaged in deficit finance. At that time, this guy issued a large bill. A lot of money is less than 2.5 times of the original 5 baht, but 50 baht should be used as 5 baht. This is essentially equivalent to the government printing more money to make a deficit and collecting social wealth for free. In the end, people were furious, and this stupid adventure was dismembered by the knife. The originator of the deficit is not the United States, but China.
Earlier, we talked about the impact of inflation on individuals. Does this have an impact on the region? Of course there is. I often watch local government work conferences, and local leaders are always ambitious. I read the report written by the secretary that he can't understand: the whole city has worked hard and made continuous progress, and local fiscal revenue has made great progress. This year's fiscal revenue is many times that of previous years. There is applause here, please pause the brackets. Dude, didn't you consider inflation in this growth consideration?
We carefully observe that every few years, when fiscal revenue is reported all over the country, we can see that some places have a particularly high fiscal revenue growth, and some places have also increased, but the extent is small. In fact, these places with small growth rates are also victims of inflation. The reason is still very simple. The price of products in developed areas has risen high, while the price of products in backward areas has risen little. Why are the prices of products in some places rising so high? Because people's economy is developed, talents and technology are first-class, and the products produced are monopolistic. And those backward areas are nothing more than selling grain, labor, coal and ore. Anyone can sell these things, and the price will definitely not go up. This is also the reason why Shenzhen can weld resistors, capacitors and transistors into a broken circuit board and get you hundreds of kilograms of grain. As a result, a lot of wealth in backward areas was given to developed areas for free. The result of inflation has also intensified regional differentiation.
Finally, what if it is extended to the national level? Similarly, developed countries are plundering developing countries in this way. Because other people's products have mastered the core technology and are monopolistic, you always have to buy them when the price rises. And you always make those earthy things, and everyone can do them. Where are you going to raise the price? I remember a friend asked me: I kept saying that developed countries plundered developing countries and he would not send troops. How did he plunder them? The above is one of the methods of plunder. The end of inflation has also intensified the division of the country.
Inflation is eroding the interests of individuals, regions and countries in this way. As individuals, we must improve our labor skills and turn wealth into investment. As a backward area, we must change the low-level development model, form an industry with core competitiveness and get out of primary industrialization. As a country, it is necessary to upgrade its industrial structure, instead of engaging in export processing industries that always sell hard-earned money like China. All this depends on the improvement of people's quality. Talent is the foundation of winning. Only by relying on talents can we not pay inflation tax or even collect other people's taxes.