Economist Kurt Richebächer’s article A Grotesque Misnomer [link, scroll about 2/3 of the way down the web page to find the start of the article] ridicules the idea that a central bank policy aiming at inflating asset prices constitutes a form of wealth creation. Wealth ultimately is the ability to consume more goods, which can only be produced by more capital, which requires more savings.
- Worst of all, asset-price inflation is not wealth at all. That is strikingly obvious from the macro perspective. The best way to realize this, we think, is a comparison against the true wealth creation that generations before us have experienced and that generations of economists have regarded as the one and only way to greater, lasting prosperity. It comes from investment spending on income- creating buildings, plant and equipment.
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Wealth creation through inflation.
Surely, inflation is not a proper way of creating wealth. I totally agree with that. True wealth creation is to keep your capital appreciation above the current inflation level.
As income increases, so does the cost of living. Hence capital appreciation is a must in order to keep up with inflation. Otherwise properties would become cheaper by the dozen after as many years.
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