More generally, the problem with inflation is that it apportions gains and losses in a relatively arbitrary fashion, depending on who rebalances his or her portfolio at the right moment. Inflation is the sign of a society that is dealing with a serious distributive conflict: it wants to unburden itself of debts incurred in the past, but it cannot openly debate how the required sacrifices should be apportioned and prefers to rely on the vagaries of rising prices and speculation. The obvious risk of doing so is that a widespread sense of injustice will be created.
