Help! Inflation increasing at an alarming rate!!!

[ajarnlance]

Newbie needs help to keep a lid on inflation. The manual isn't helpful. Do I need to reduce taxes? I keep getting the message that my businessmen need easy credit to buy inputs for industry and my inflation rate in increasing 1% every turn....

[enf91]

You're spending too much money. Hit F4 to go to the resources screen. Mouse over the cash in the second row (should be huge negative and say something about "structures expenditures"). If your cash reserves fall below that level, you'll get that event. So if you're going to spend private capital, don't put yourself below that number.

[ajarnlance]

Thank you so much. You just saved my empire from crumbling...

[loki100]

Thank you so much. You just saved my empire from crumbling...

the other thing to watch out for is you haven't clicked on the 'convert gold/gems to cash' option (easy to do). This will trigger a regular increase in inflation. Check on the F4 screen - I think the info is in row 4 of the state cash column (ie other sources).

[enf91]

There is another way. On the F4 screen, mouse over the public funds icon that is just above the bottom one. If you are converting gold/gems to money, it will tell you your income from that.

[loki100]

Kind of bizarre that the only way you can tell if those options are functioning is to listen for the sound. Whoever had that idea and whoever approved of it should have been fired.

If you don't covert gold/gems you have to have taxes and that lowers contentment regularly until everyone riots. The inflation is preferable.

as in the two posts above - you can check the relevant F4 column, that will tell if this option has been selected

[Jim-NC]

Kind of bizarre that the only way you can tell if those options are functioning is to listen for the sound. Whoever had that idea and whoever approved of it should have been fired.

If you don't covert gold/gems you have to have taxes and that lowers contentment regularly until everyone riots. The inflation is preferable.

You need to get gold/gems to convert (that's the tough part). For some of the options, you see an immediate change in the screen in F4 (for the conversion ones you will see a big negative on the stuff being consumed, and a new positive on the ones being created - gold/gems into state funds, or all food groups into preserved food for example).

[Kensai]

Nonetheless, do not freak out about the inflation rate (at least in the game). You can perfectly handle an economy with 10% or even 20% of inflation. Remember that above 10% your government will even have special tools (decisions) to decrease inflation at some cost.

[amyron]

There's been a ton of discussion about how Americans do not save enough cash. While it is certainly true that frivolous spending is bad, what a lot of people don't understand that they really lose money if they save it. The reason has to do with inflation, which makes most savings accounts almost pointless to have.

[epaminondas]

So if you're going to spend private capital, don't put yourself below that number.

It's worth noting that the number involved here isn't fixed. As the years progress the quantum that you have to preserve to keep your businessmen calm gets higher and higher.