Douglas Carswell's Blog

Nothing shocking about inflation

We’re told that inflation has risen to 3.7% - while the Retail Price Index is just a shade below 5%.

Contrary to the way this has been reported, it is, alas, hardly shocking. 

If you print lots of new money (quantitative easing), you diminish the worth of the currency you already have.

My fear is that higher inflation is not simply a consequence of an inept policy response to the credit crunch – quantitative easing. Rather, it appears to be deliberate policy as a means of coping with the vast public debts we now face.  As happened in the 1970s, inflation will be allowed to erode large public debts, but in doing so, diminish private wealth.  

Might it also be that governments are as adept at managing currencies as they are at managing telecoms companies, or exam systems, or ship builders, or airlines?

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