Prerit Das
2 min readAug 20, 2021

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Sure! Supply and demand can impact inflation, but in this case, we're talking specifically about the supply of a 'finite' resource. First, to the point that money creation hasn't created much inflation: the annual rate of inflation to date is nearly 3x the Fed's target rate. (usinflationcalculator.com)

The Federal Reserve of the United States has printed $29,000,000,000,000 in the last 12 months to cover debts. 40% of the entire dollar supply has been printed in the last 12 months.

When a large sum of money is printed with zero financial backing, the money supply drastically increases while the value of the dollar shrinks. Because low-income Americans have most-all of their wealth in cash, they feel the effects of their dollars now worth much less.

Their dollars, the same quantity, can now do much less.

The rich, on the other hand, holding assets, are far better protected. Assets have intrinsic and extrinsic values, both of which are priced in absolute terms — relative to currency.

For example, if a piece of land is worth $100,000, and the money supply doubles overnight (all other factors constant), the dollar value of the property would become $200,000.

The buying power of the dollar would halve, so the price of the property would double to ensure its absolute value remains as it is.

Typically, such changes are dangerously unnoticeable and occur over time; but the effects are massive nonetheless.

In this way, when the Fed prints passionately print their money, the asset-owning rich remain rich while the cash-wielding poor get poorer.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the value of the dollar shattered. But the wealthy had their money in stocks, real estate, and other assets, so they were well protected (and got richer) while the poor suffered.

Trillions of dollars of ‘good-willed’ stimulus from the government, while necessary, had a drastically negative impact on the dollar supply. (Living in a House of Paper. https://medium.com/money-daily/living-in-a-house-of-paper-29eec619abcf)

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Prerit Das
Prerit Das

Written by Prerit Das

Top writer in finance. Market lover, relentless coder, financier… I write about Bitcoin, money, trading, self dev, and anything that blows my mind.

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