[arete]

seeing how the dollar has actually increased in value over the past 5 years until recently.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the dollar has been on a steady decline. When you hear talk of a stong dollar, that's against other currencies. We have never not had inflation except back in the great depression. You get out much?

Richard W.

[Norse]

Recently it has declined, yes, which is why I said, "until recently." But if you look at the value of the dollar...not relative to other currencies, but its overall value, it increased substantially from 1997 to 2002.

>We have never not had inflation except back in the great >depression

First, lets get the definition of inflation correct. The definition of inflation is the decline in the value of a currency, not the overall rise in prices. See, the CPI (consumer price index) can still rise while the overall VALUE of the currency is actually increasing, because when you have inflation or deflation, not all commodities and items are hit at once. It is a cascade effect, with gold, oil, and other commodities affected first, followed by other goods. So, you can have no inflation from years 1-5...have inflation in year 6...no inflation in years 7-9, but have the inflation from year 6 show up in the CPI in year 10.

Sort of like Japan. They have been suffering from an economic deflation (slow rise in the value of the currency)since the mid to late 80s. However, the CPI didn't show this until the mid 90s!!

So, in summary...if the CPI rises for 5 years, it does not necessarily reflect any change in currency value for those 5 years...

There is no inflation agenda. The problem is that we have really smart people thinking they can determine how much money is needed in the marketplace...unfortunately that is impossible for mankind to do. There is only one way to do it.