“Inflation is taxation without legislation”, Milton Friedman
In my little neighborhood I can go to the hairdresser, get a massage, go to the gym and pay cash or Revolut. Receipts are not exchanged. Some of the services are rescheduled, and I’ve just recently witnessed the fact that services for products are still exchanged in kind: a haircut for a pound of pink tomatoes.
In many outlets, the remote payment terminals are stowed away in drawers because: ‘they don’t work’, ‘the banks’ fees have become very high’, ‘there is no battery’ and many other creative explanations (bank fees have jumped by 40 to 100% in the last 4 years).
The truth is simpler – this business had just poked half its head out into the light a few years ago and is now submerged under water again.
