US Inflation

Most of us know that high inflation is bad, but deflation (negative inflation) is detrimental.

Recent inflation has been referred to by a presidential candidate as the "worst in our nation's history" and that it would "ravage the economy."

Data overwhelmingly refutes these claims.

When comparing the 8.0% inflation of 2022 to 111 years of recent inflation data, there were twelve years during which inflation was higher. Two of those years had inflation more than double, at 17.8% and 17.3%. There were also five years during which we experienced deflation greater than 5%, all during severe depressions of 1921 and 1931. In total, there were seventeen years where price stability was worse, or far worse than our recent experience with inflation.

The inflation of the past four years: 4.7%, 8.0%, 4.1%, and 2.6% (year-to-date), rank 28, 13, 33, and 57. Recent price instability are hardly noticeable, when compared to the inflation experienced during the two world wars, the persistent inflation in the 1970s and 1980s, and the extreme deflation during the early 1920s and early 1930s.

There are also some reliable resources that contain our nation's complete price stability over nearly 250 years, and there are at least four more periods of much higher and prolonged periods of inflation, not to mention a significant number of prolonged periods of deflation.

What we just experienced was insignificant in our nation's history. Compared to the experiences of our forefathers, I'm embarrassed to think of recent years as a hardship. Perhaps, we have become weak and spoiled as to how great our nation truly is.

Often economic growth and inflation are closely linked. Years of low inflation are not necessarily positive if growth was also very low, or even negative.