To keep the system running, monetary policy all around the world has target inflation rates. From a debt perspective, this makes sense: inflation makes debt easier to pay back because you’re paying yesterday, when dollars cost more, with money from tomorrow, when dollars are worth less. In the United States in 1970, a $3.25 per hour wage had the same purchasing power as a $25.00 per hour job today. A movie ticket that cost $1.55 in 1970 is more than $9.00 today. A gallon of gasoline in 1970 was 36 cents; it’s $2.98 today. A debt that you took on then that cost you 100 hours of work—$325—could
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