Reply #33: Or course not, but other things are!

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http://www.abelard.org/inflation.htm
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Understanding money - Mechanics of inflation <2> <3>

Inflation and rising prices are not the ‘same’.

“Lenin was right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.”

J M Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, ch. 6.

The reality of inflation is that governments steal money from their citizens with absolutely no intention of repaying that money. They can do this to a great extent because most people cannot add up and because governments can project draconian force. You might note that economics is not taught in schools. Adolph said, “what joy it is for the leaders that the public are stupid”. In Mein Kampf, he lays out plans to ensure that the eastern nations that he intended to colonise/enslave, were kept uneducated. Economics, or the understanding of money, is one of the fundamental skills that are essential for any citizen who is to aspire to freedom. Once the public understands money, the manipulative power of government is greatly reduced.

“Suppose that by the working of natural laws individuals pursuing their own interests with enlightenment in conditions of freedom always tend to promote the general interest at the same time!”

J M Keynes, The end of laissez-faire, p. 274.

A central issue of the manner of government power is the monopolisation of overwhelming force. One of the uses of that force is the establishment of a monopoly over the control of money, and that, a money that is mere printed paper with no intrinsic exchange value.

Money is what a psychologist calls a conditioned reinforcer, which means that, if you give people these worthless pieces of paper, other humans are inclined to give you useful things in exchange. Money use depends upon the belief that others will act in like manner at a future date.

Once belief in a form of money ceases, that object (eg dollar bills) ceases to function as money, that is, it ceases to be money!
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