>>You can not have inflation with stagnant or falling wages and stagnant or falling housing house prices...<<
I sort of agree and disagree. That is, if nobody has money, nobody is buying anything. However, even if the entire population loses their jobs, the money did not go away. It is somewhere and in someone’s hands and if there is a lot of it, prices will go up for that reason.
Except, to demonstrate through extremes, if the entire population is unemployed, but 10 people have all the money, it means those ten people will eat really nice steaks, but there will be very low demand for steaks, making prices very reasonable. It is as if there is a lot of money, but controlled by few people that simply don’t need that much “basic stuff”, while everyone else starves. Demand would be low, as would prices, even though there would be a lot of money. But the money would be rotting away, unused.
I oversimplify for one reason: generate thoughts and ideas from people other than myself. Some of you can tell me where this is all wrong, partly right, and in either case, what it may mean for all of us.
A big factor is that we do have more "things" than ever before.
Many have too much "stuff"(in the classic George Carlin routine fashion).
Storage unit facilities are one of the few growth industries.
We've reached full of crap capacity, just at the peak of "retail" efficiency.
So ironically, just when we don't really need anymore things, we're expected to help all these needlessly over redundant stores keep their doors open.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth as a little expressed factor in this big storm.