"Inflation has not merely economic or social consequences, but moral and psychological ones too...."

"Inflation has not merely economic or social consequences, but moral and psychological ones too....
    "For one thing, inflation destroys the very idea of enough, because no one can have any confidence that a monetary income that at present is adequate will not be whittled down to very little in a matter of a few years.... Unfortunately, when there is inflation, the only way to insure against poverty in old age is either to be in possession of a government-guaranteed index-linked pension ... or to become much richer than one would otherwise aim or desire to be. And the latter turns financial speculation from a minority into a mass pursuit...
    "Inflation plays havoc with the virtue of prudence, for what is prudence among the shifting sands of inflation? When inflation rises to a certain level, it is prudent to turn one’s money into something tangible as soon as it comes to hand, for tomorrow, as the song goes, will be too late. Everything becomes now or never. Traditional prudence becomes imprudence, or naivety, and vice versa.
    "Inflation comes in more than one form. For quite a number of years it took the form of asset inflation, while the prices of consumables remained relatively constant or actually fell....
    "Asset inflation ... has certain social and psychological consequences. First, it puts the meaningful accumulation of assets for those who do not already possess them out of reach.... This in turn has the effect of transforming a society divided by permeable classes into a fixed caste society....
    "Asset inflation fosters delusions in those who benefit from it.... I am richer on paper, and for some dizzy people this feeling of wealth encourages sumptuary expenditure, often on credit.... Gone in my lifetime is the idea that debt is to be avoided, that it is discreditable to live entirely on credit, and shameful not to repay....
    "Inflation has not merely economic or social consequences, but moral and psychological ones too....
          ~ Theodore Dalrymple, from his post 'Inflationary Vice'