Value of each unit of money has been constantly and consistently decreasing

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the ongoing decrease in the value of money throughout history and its sustainability. It highlights that the rapid circulation of money and increased printing during economic growth lead to a decline in money's value. While a low value of money can be healthy for the economy, deflation poses significant risks. Constantly decreasing prices may seem beneficial, but it can discourage immediate spending, ultimately stalling economic activity. The conversation touches on the potential extremes of inflation and deflation, speculating on future scenarios where prices could drastically change, such as paying exorbitant amounts for basic goods.
username
Messages
226
Reaction score
2
Seems like value of each unit of money has been constantly and consistantly decreasing over history in the civilized world, how is this sustainable ?

EDIT: Damn this post does not belong here but I can't delete it doh!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org
Money moves faster. And we print more when necessary.
 
Its simply a biproduct of economic growth. More goods are available and more people have more money to spend on those goods. So the value of the money will go down.

As long as its low, its a healthy thing. But DEflation can be very bad.

Imagine if prices DECREASED constantly. Sounds great, doesn't it? But wait, if prices are going down, why not wait a week or two or three or ten before buying that new car? With deflation the motivation for immediate spending decreases and the economy quickly grinds to a halt.
 
But where will it all end, I guess sometime in the future you could pay 1 million pounds just for a loaf of bread :/
 
Originally posted by username
But where will it all end, I guess sometime in the future you could pay 1 million pounds just for a loaf of bread :/


By then, we will probably be using the Euro anyway.

However, with all this talk of deflation, we could be paying 5pence for a loaf of bread.
 
Similar to the 2024 thread, here I start the 2025 thread. As always it is getting increasingly difficult to predict, so I will make a list based on other article predictions. You can also leave your prediction here. Here are the predictions of 2024 that did not make it: Peter Shor, David Deutsch and all the rest of the quantum computing community (various sources) Pablo Jarrillo Herrero, Allan McDonald and Rafi Bistritzer for magic angle in twisted graphene (various sources) Christoph...
Thread 'My experience as a hostage'
I believe it was the summer of 2001 that I made a trip to Peru for my work. I was a private contractor doing automation engineering and programming for various companies, including Frito Lay. Frito had purchased a snack food plant near Lima, Peru, and sent me down to oversee the upgrades to the systems and the startup. Peru was still suffering the ills of a recent civil war and I knew it was dicey, but the money was too good to pass up. It was a long trip to Lima; about 14 hours of airtime...
Back
Top