I am agonising about inflation. It's keeping me awake at night. Although not last night. Last night it was a vivid nightmare about a runaway oil tanker heading down Moulton Common with the driver (who I seem to remember was David Hasselhoff) shouting "Help me" out of the window.
This may also have been a premonition about inflation I suppose and the price of fossil fuels. It was appropriate to be thinking about this in North Norfolk where house prices have quadrupled in the ten or so years that I have been going there.
There is absolutely no question that we will soon see sharp inflation in food prices. I am convinced of this. Food has been economically and emotionally undervalued by consumers for some time.
We have had the illusion of low inflation in this country. Although taxation, wages, fuels and property values have escalated dramatically we have still been able to import cheap consumer goods and the retailers have used their buying power to give shoppers a great deal. We all know about this. I'll make no judgement on that now.
My problem is that I am wondering if I ought to go out and borrow a vast sum of money. If we are about to have massive inflation then that would virtually write off any debt wouldn't it? I'll always be a rubbish businessman because I hate borrowing money but I have loads of things that I need to buy at the moment - the new coldstore, the refurbishment of the flower packhouse, the reedbed, the new graders, the biobed, the yard extension (and dad keeps talking about sports cars). I normally invest my profits as I go along. Rightly or wrongly, this prevents the business growing too quickly.
Am I missing a chance to let inflation pay off my debts? Can anyone advise? And are there any dream interpreters amongst my imaginary readership who can explain the symbolism of "the Hoff"?
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