I'm guessing the underlying point both of you are making, re: 2-3% vs 9% you is that it's inflation... set against popular access to investments that meet or exceed that rate.
I don't mind 3% inflation, when I have low-risk investments that earn >3%.
I do mind 9% inflation, when my low-risk options earn <6%.
(To pull some random demonstrative numbers out of a hat)
And I think it's specifically the broadness of access to the sub- or supra- inflation investment opportunity that matters. If only some, limited-access opportunities exist, then it still hurts.
Which I guess is another way of saying economic-growth-vs-inflation is the important metric, with a dash of central bank policy.
In defense of fiat money... it is a powerful tool in the hands of a responsible macroeconomic manager. Emphasis on powerful & responsible.
Yes, it does, just not as much as 9% does.
Inflation is not hard to understand. It is always a monetary phenomenon. When the money supply increases faster than the value in the economy, you get inflation (because of Law of Supply & Demand, which no government has yet succeeded in repealing).
The rising cost of gas does not cause inflation, because when gas prices go up, you have less money to spend, and hence other prices come down.