"The first and probably the most important thing for the investor to recognize about inflation is this: As long as the overwhelming majority of Americans maintain firmly held existing opinions concerning the duties and obligations of their government, more and more inflation is inevitable. ... Why is more inflation so sure to come? Because under the economic system we have established the seeds of inflation sprout not in times of prosperity but in times of depression About eighty per cent of our federal revenue is derived from corporate and individual income taxes. The base source of federal funds is notoriously sensitive to the level of general business. It shrinks sharply on even moderate downturns in the general economy. However, this is not all that happens when general business gets bad. We have enacted laws, including unemployment insurance and farm relief, which make make mandatory a sharp increase of government payments in just these same periods of bad business when federal income is lowest. Furthermore, these laws already on the statute books are almost certainly but the smallest part of the special outpouring of government money that would occur when a truly severe depression might develop."