It is a matter of common observation that although incomes keep going up over the years, people never seem to become much better off! Prices are rising continuously. This condition is known as one of inflation; the money supply is becoming inflated so that each unit of it becomes less valuable. People have grown accustomed in recent years to higher and higher rates of inflation. What could be bought ten years age for one dollar now costs well over two dollars. Present indications are that this rate of inflation is tending to rise rather than to fall. If in the real world our money incomes go up at the same rate as prices, one might think that inflation does not matter. But it does. When money is losing value, it lacks one of the qualities of a good money—stability of value. It is no longer acceptable as a store of value; and it becomes an unsuitable standard of deferred(延期的) payments. Nobody wants to hold a wasting asset(财富), so people try to get rid of money as quickly as possible. Inflation therefore stimulates consumer spending, and prevents people from saving. Inflation is a situation in which ______.