Author: Kurt Larsson

Article:
My parents bought their first house on Long Island in 1955. A
two story Cape Cod, its purchase price was $17,000.00. According
to its latest valuation it is now worth north of $400,000.00.
Very little has been done to it. What has happened in the 48
years since its construction is commonly referred to as
inflation. But what does that really mean and more importantly
what else is inflated?

According to Webster's New World Dictionary®, Inflation means
" an increase in the amount of money and credit in relation to
the supply of goods and services".

To complicate matters, did you know that according to the
Federal Reserve (ironically/comically charged with maintaining a
stable dollar) and its own records, there is now twice the
number of dollars in circulation as there were in 1995? I bring
this up to ask the question: are the things we purchase worth
more as time goes by or is the money we buy them with worth less?

Good as Gold?

Ask people following gold or supporting a return to a gold
backed currency (which by the way was written into the United
States of America's Constitution). The dollar is worth less and
less each day. Yet, in a now famous speech delivered last year,
the newest Federal Reserve Governor stated that the "Fed" had a
printing press and was not afraid to use it. Whether this
concerns you yet or not, is not the purpose of this article.

What should be of interest to us all is to dare look for signs
of this inflationary phenomenon in other places in our lives.

Then and now It's fairly obvious when comparing everyday items
such as glass bottles, cans and cars built 50 years ago to those
built today. Technologies have certainly helped streamlined
waste in this process, but the important question here is can we
buy more or less product now with the same amount of money? For
example, the deposit for recycling a bottle of cola is now more
that the price of the whole drink with bottle not many years ago.

But let's look deeper. For instance: . How many TV channels are
available now? Do you get the same value from watching? . What
is the cost of using foul language now compared to a number of
years ago? . What is the price of the hours you work compared to
the value of your salary, health, stress, etc? . What is the
price of accessibility (with mobile phones, e-mail, etc.)
compared to value of your (health, stress, free time)? Which is
increasing / decreasing? . How much value do you receive from
your taxes and all its paperwork? . What is the current level of
trust you have for authority figures? . What about family
values? (Some Swedish children were recently asked what home was
and their answer was "a place that you always cleaned".) .
Finally how much time do you have nowadays to just reflect?

In each of these cases, which way is the cost trending compared
to its value? Can we agree that while the value of each either
remains the same or is being diluted, the cost continues to
increase?

The consmer society Let's now return to the subject of money and
our seemingly endless need as a society to purchase more stuff.
It is interesting to note that as our need for more stuff keeps
increasing, the values mentioned above (and many others) seem to
be weakening. These values and other so called "human" and
" societal" factors seem to be slowly breaking down, but in such
a benign way that the process does not seem to cause much
concern. Just like the proverbial frog who will eventually boil
to death in a slowly boiling pot of water, we seem to be numbed
to inflation's effect. Yet, the more we lose these precious
properties and qualities that make us human, the more we seem to
becoming machines "stressed" to perform better. How much of your
life has become about performance and effectivness?

"The lights on, but nobody's home" Some brilliant person
recently coined the term "human doings" to describe how many of
us run around from task to task like chickens with their heads
cut off. Have you ever dared to count the inflation in "have
to-s", "musts" and other obligations you have in your life?
Think about about paperwork inflation, alone.

It may also be interesting to look at the the loss of personal
freedom compared to the escalation of violence in our society
while remembering the old adage "obligation breeds resentment".
How much conscious choice and how much freedom do you really
have left? More importantly, how often do you exercise it?

The opportunity, "You never go sightseeing in your own town".
For those of us that see this inflationary trend as a struggle
for maintaining our human dignity, we offer a suggestion as to
the most powerful and vulnerable (NOT weakest) place to start,
yourself! With the risk of becoming more monotonous than the
" human doings" that seem to be multiplying around us, we invite
you to do an inventory of your own qualities and values to
monitor the inflation going on in your own backyard. For
instance: . How solid are your ethics and morals? . How clean is
your language? . What is the value of your word? . How "close"
are you to your family? What is the quality of those
relationships? . How is your health, weight, stress level, etc?
. How many people do you really trust? How many trust you? . How
much peace of mind can you muster before craving something to do?

In Swedish, the word for behaviour patterns is beteende mönster,
we invite you to ask yourself how many of your beteende mönster
are really inflated beteende monsters? We hope the message is
clear enough, if you don't maintain values, in these
inflationary times, they will erode.

"So what" you ask? Our answer: How is your quality of life? How
is it compared to what you expected when you dreamed of it so
many years ago? If you are like most of us there is probably
been a certain amount of price inflation since you first dreamed
about how it would be. It also seems that the price for many of
us is finally beginning to show its ugly face. Sick leave is
increasing drastically, stress is an epidemic and we just keep
working more. If you watch the news, you are probably seeing
inflation's effect on the world around you. If you are trying to
raise children you are probably feeling its effect close to
home. Now ask yourself what is the direction of the trend?

Living your life in a Spreadsheet We are in danger of becoming a
society of individuals living in a spreadsheet; and don't forget
that each box on a spreadsheet is called a "cell". The more we
allow our values to deteriorate the more desensitized we become.
For instance, what is your reaction to the level of violence on
TV? Has it degraded over the last 20 years? What about the
inflation of democracy compared to the power of lobbyists? Some
have likened the degradation in the process of voting to a legal
form of monetary "mob rule". What do you think?

Your "human being" use it or lose it. We think it is past time
to address this inflation/degradation process of what makes us
human. Regardless if you believe in a great conspiracy, plain
old chaos or nothing at all; the result might just turn out to
be the same. We may be losing our dignity as humans even faster
than we collectively seem to be losing our wealth. Trust,
respect and confidence are in danger of become relics of the
past. Has your child been assaulted in school yet?

Hope through action As grim as it may seem, the solution to this
personal form of inflation maybe so simple that it defies logic
which may, ironically, be just the point. What if the leverage
point to lower inflation starts with being present and
expressing your true emotions? Observe what happens in your
world if you: * Choose to be consciously friendly towards others
* Make someone's day by just acknowledging them * Say or do
something that really "moves" someone * Just breathe more... do
you know where the word inspired comes from?

If these questions interest you also and if you see a connection
between the quality of your life and the depth with which you
dare to answer them, then we would like to hear from you!
Inflation can be beaten, but you have to feel it first!

About the author:
Kurt's curiosity for learning has kept him a student of money,
investing and finance for over 30 years. With each investment
failure he has gained more insight into why "free markets" do
not act free. When not losing money at investing, he coaches
people to healthier, more loyal and more prosperous
relationships.

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