Specter of Inflation

If you do not think inflation is a problem, how about the nine and a half million dollar stamp? Thankfully, that was a one-off collectible and not from the United States Postal Service yet. All joking aside, the prices of comestibles and gasoline are shooting through the roof. The instability in Iraq and across the Middle East is spiking oil prices. That cost has driven the cost up to bring food from the field to the consumer. Bad weather and diseases affecting crops and livestock have pushed up what we pay as well. Our wages are relatively stagnant but our cost of living is surging. You can not live without food or go very far without fuel. These are simply costs that we must pay, and since our salaries or hourly wages have not kept up, we have less to save. There is no way left for the average person to build a nest egg. What most of our politicians offer is an increase in the minimum wage that ironically will only devalue the dollar further and spike inflation. What we need is less of a regulatory regime and more free market to bring prosperity back to the masses.