[nhaehnle]

Inflation does not mean creation of new money. This usage of inflation has become obsolete with the end of the gold standard.

Inflation is by definition a rise in price levels, usually measured by the CPI (whose definition is sometimes subject to debate, but no measure of price levels is perfect; the important thing is to choose one that's reasonable and then stick to it).

Inflation, i.e. a rise in price levels, can then cause an increase of money supply measures, as producing firms take on larger amounts of credit to finance their operations, and this leads to a (rather weak, and only valid over the long run) correlation of inflation and growth of money supply. There are also tertiary effects that can cause both inflation and growth of money supply (such as excessive government deficits). But it's important not to confuse those things.