> In an inflationary environment the status quo is that your wages shrink.

The US is a classical inflationary environment and wages have kept pace with inflation forever.

Indeed, inflation only, and intentionally, punishes those who hoard cash.

Not always, depending on your timeframe. eg. if you look at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/United_S... there’s about 2 decades where the real wage went down.

Fair enough.

I would note that chart begins prior to ending the gold standard in 1971, and it has tracked very well since 1995.

I was off-base when I said "forever." I should have said in recent history.