[blevo]

>inflation erodes ... wealth

a good thing?

> inflation has a cause

that was #1 in my comment: monetary stimulus

as for other causes: you are arguing minimum wage benefits the poor but raises prices as does increase in union power. I don't quite follow...

Minimum Wage: It seems you are ignoring ("the forgotten man") workers displaced by minimum wage (and increased barrier to entry of no/low-skill labor). Then arguing that the increased income for those who receive it as a raise either offsets the inevitable price increase in consumer goods or is worth it due to the time it takes for the consumer goods to find equilibrium with the new minimum. You may well say this is preferable to monetary stimulus which the banks and rich receive first and get the benefit of the time it takes for a new equilibrium to be reached.

Union power: benefit to protected union workers, subsidized by all consumers (who must pay the increased price of goods the union effects). this works out to just be special treatment. Granted, some may prefer we treat this class (working-poor, low-middle class) as special as opposed to that class (ie rich, upper-middle class). To each their own.

Am I missing something?