Inflation: How stress is built into our money system

I meet many people, who believe they have a problem with money. My belief is, though, is that it's our money system that's really stressing them.

I also believe that the reason for this is inflation. Inflation keeps people in constant hustling mode. All they do is try and keep up with it (though most are not aware of it) - to get to a place where they finally feel financially secure long-term. But every time they're getting close to the finish line, things get more expensive and they're thrown back a few steps again. The goal never comes quite into reach.

If the annual inflation rate is 1%, and the interest rate for savings is 2% - things are maybe still sort of OKish (for people who are good savers). But those times are long gone.

With low or pretty much zero interest rates we feel inflation much more now that the return on our savings doesn't counteract it anymore. We can only watch how our money loses its purchasing power and try and find other ways to make up for it.

So what most people do is try and get a better paid job, or ask their boss for a raise. Entrepreneurs have to ask their clients for more money for the same services.

All of these things add stress, because what if the clients are not prepared to pay more (because they don't have any money to spare either)? What if there is no better paid job and the salary increase is denied? That leaves people with less and less money, and a whole lot of stress.

What causes inflation? The continuous "printing" of more money by the central banks. The more of something is available, the less valuable it becomes.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have a limited supply. New money can't just be printed at will. There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins and they are being "issued" in a deflationary way, meaning, every 4 years the daily amount of Bitcoins that enter circulation gets cut in half.

If you're wondering what the difference is between the digital money Bitcoin and the digital money we already have - the topic of inflation is one major one. This is what I talk about in this video.