I think you're conflating productivity growth with distribution. Technology increased wealth, but whether workers shared in those gains depended heavily on bargaining power and institutions.

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cluckindan 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Everything changed with floating currency. Inflation became a tool for centralization of ownership.

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smallmancontrov an hour ago | parent | next [-]

The Robber Barons were able to r>g their empires just fine in gold-backed currency.

The Cantillon Pump is only one of several major "rich get richer" mechanisms in the economy. It is not the most important, and it does not consistently run in the same direction (wages can inflate faster than assets).

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WalterBright 33 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Inflation is caused by deficit spending. It is a tool for government to increase spending without raising taxes.

	▲	barrkel 26 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Inflation is an increase in the cost of living. It can be caused by deficit spending. It can also be caused by supply shocks. For example, if you restrict building new housing, the price of housing will increase, both rents and house prices. If you tariff imports, a basket including those goods will rise in price to the degree those imports are not substituable. If you start a war in the Middle East, oil prices will rise, and increased energy costs can feed into lots of different things, raising prices.