Runaway inflation, deflation, or defaults on loans, balance-trade-deficits, and bad economic policies are the sign of an economy and a country in turmoil
In ordinary parlance, when there is a lot of paper or “fiat” (Latin for “let it be”) money in circulation, prices go up and our dollars buy less. This is inflation. In two famous photographs of 1923, a German housewife burned “marks” in her kitchen stove because it was cheaper to burn money than to use them to buy firewood and a gentlemen pushed a wheelbarrow full of cash to buy a loaf of bread.
