I've been watching a bunch of economics videos lately and it's enabled me to see a bunch of features baked into the system we live in, that I totally just accepted at face value and never really thought deeply about before, like this explanation for why central banks have target inflation and purposely devalue the currency over time.
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Economists want money to be devalued by 2–2.5% every year. This is a designed, intentional feature of the system. Why? It essentially enables corporations to cut workers' wages over time without actively doing so. It's very difficult for a company to cut your actual wage — they'd have to convince you to sign a new contract at a lower pay, and you'd probably say no. But if money is automatically devalued by 2–3% per year, your wage is automatically being devalued by 2–3% per year. Your company doesn't have to cut it — you have to actively fight to prevent it from being cut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So484-4VbxI
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Economists want money to be devalued by 2–2.5% every year. This is a designed, intentional feature of the system. Why? It essentially enables corporations to cut workers' wages over time without actively doing so. It's very difficult for a company to cut your actual wage — they'd have to convince you to sign a new contract at a lower pay, and you'd probably say no. But if money is automatically devalued by 2–3% per year, your wage is automatically being devalued by 2–3% per year. Your company doesn't have to cut it — you have to actively fight to prevent it from being cut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So484-4VbxI