The working and middle classes in the UK have had a lost decade really.<p>2008 crash followed by austerity going on for way too long when it wasn't needed at all, followed by Brexit, Covid and now this.
Central banks have a choice to make. After the insane bubbles they've blown for the last 20 years, and the government debt created along with that, they can either raise interest rates aggressively and basically bankrupt their countries for a while (this isn't necessarily a catastrophe), or they can inflate away the debt by refusing to raise interest rates.<p>I strongly suspect the only reason the US has been aggressive in rate hikes is because they can do it with the US dollar's reserve status. For the UK, EU, and others, it's not so clear.<p>It might be much easier on governments just to inflate the debt away, it will take longer and won't mean massive crashes. It will mean completely destroying most middle class and upper middle class savings. I think many governments won't mind doing that.
If you want to spoil the rest of your day... :-) This Deflation/Inflation calculator, courtesy of the German Bundesbank, will allow you to see, how much purchasing power you lost in the last 12 months for example...<p><a href="https://www.bundesbank.de/en/service/school-service/interactive-features/inflation-and-deflation-calculator-619038" rel="nofollow">https://www.bundesbank.de/en/service/school-service/interact...</a>
Money is really just tokens to help distribute the real stuff made like cars and houses. During covid people slacked off making real stuff and the government handed out more tokens hence the price rises now people are trying to spend them. More tokens per real thing.<p>The interesting question is now covid is over if this is a blip or will keep going.