Prices rise over time mainly because governments and central banks keep creating new money, which is bad for savers and anyone living on a fixed paycheck.

• Economies naturally move in cycles of ups and downs, but policymakers fight the downs because people want asset prices to keep climbing.
• The tools used to prop things up are low interest rates, stimulus checks, and money printing to buy government bonds.
• Around 40% of all dollars in existence were created after 2020 alone.
• If the money supply stayed flat while technology improved, prices would actually fall over time and life would get cheaper.
• Stuff is not harder to make than it was a century ago — there is simply far more money chasing it.

Outlook: As long as downturns are met with more stimulus and cheap credit, the cost of living will keep grinding higher.