flation most people associate currency with inflation. which is sort of a misnomer. when you think of money, you really think of the buying power of the money. ie what you can get for your dollars. buying power generally goes down over time. ie it deflates. this is called inflation. inexplicably confusingly. yeah it's the value of the goods that you buy with money that inflates relative to the currency. it's still confusing. so anywho, this is considered a good thing. it keeps people from hoarding dollars. spend it now or get less later. or invest it now. which definitely seems like it would make the economy more robust. bitcoins on the other hand deflate. meaning they increase in value relative to the goods they can buy. don't ask. the reason is there's a limited supply of bitcoins. yet the goods available to buy increases. over time, you can get more stuff per bitcoin. which seems like it would encourage saving bitcoins. course that means hoarding them. which inflates the value of the bitcoins remaining in circulation. which encourages more hoarding. heh. many folks say this is a fatal flaw of bitcoins. i don't entirely agree. at some point bitcoins will become so valuable that a hoarder will not be able to resist the temptation to buy something. to start spending. the influx of bitcoins into circulation should stabilize the price. so everything should be okay. an inflationary currency encourages you to buy stuff you don't need. or invest in companies that make stuff that people don't need. a deflationary currency encourages people to put off purchases until they actually need something. which really, doesn't seem all that bad. course it cuts out the banks. who make fortunes literally printing money faster than goods are produced and thus making money inflate. and make fortunes by charging you to let them invest your money for you quick before inflation makes it worthless. it's really good work if you can get it. timmer for (bank) president.  ¶ 8:00 AM