It is not what it appears to be.

When we discuss, write about, talk about or analyze our functional currency, we call it money and describe it using the term money with the implicit assumption that this money we are dealing with is stable - as in fixed - in real economic value in our low inflationary economies. We thus assume at the same time that prices are more or less stable in low inflationary economies too.

The term stable is normally accepted by the public at large to indicate a permanently fixed situation or position or state or price or value. A stable – as in fixed – price over time would be drawn as a horizontal line on a chart. A slowly increasing price over time would be drawn as a slightly rising line on a chart. A slowly decreasing value over time would be drawn as a slightly declining line on a chart. When we say production of a commodity is stable we accept that the absolute number of items being produced is not fluctuating but is at the same level all the time.

The term stable as used by economists, however, does not mean a fixed price or level, even though that is what the public in general thinks it means. The term stable in economics today means slowly increasing or slowly decreasing – depending on what it is being applied to. The term price stability as used by economists today does not mean that prices in general stay the same, but that prices in general are rising slowly – which is, as we are all taught, the popular definition of inflation.

The term stable money as used by economists equally does not mean that the real value of national monetary units they are talking about stays the same in the economy – even though that is what the public in general thinks it means. What they mean with stable money is that the real value of a national monetary unit is slowly being destroyed by inflation over time.

Kindest regards

Nicolaas Smith
realvalueaccounting@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2010 Nicolaas J Smith