It’s Christmas, and millions of Americans are sitting with the hard reality that their dollars simply don’t buy what they used to.
Whenever inflation hits especially hard, we don’t have to look far to find someone trying to convince us that the tanking of the dollar is actually a good thing. Usually it’s a news outlet or a politician.
Shocker.
You’ll hear that rising prices aren’t all bad because wages are going up too—that higher salaries help soften the blow. You just have to squint your eyes and stand back three feet and the picture appears. Ha.
Whatever spin they try to put on it, it’s always stupid.
This kind of backward thinking isn’t new.
Nearly two centuries ago, Frédéric Bastiat explained why this logic is false. He used the simple example of a shopkeeper whose window has been broken. On the surface, the broken window looks like it creates economic activity. The glazier gets paid. Money changes hands. Jobs are created! If you squint your eyes, the vandalized window is actually a blessing.
What’s missing, of course, is what never happened.
The shopkeeper didn’t gain anything. He lost a window and had to redirect money he could have used to expand his business, save, or invest. Nothing new was actually created. Wealth was simply destroyed and then disguised as economic activity.
Inflation follows the same pattern.
When prices rise and wages eventually follow, it can feel like the problem is solving itself. On paper, incomes are higher, and from a distance, it looks like things are evening out.
But that’s not the whole picture. Families don’t get back the purchasing power they lost while prices were rising first. Savings that took years to build now buy less. Long-term plans become harder to make because the value of money itself becomes less reliable.
You can see this clearly when you step back and look at the long view.
A dollar in 1913 had roughly the purchasing power of $100 today.
That decline happened gradually, through policies and decisions that were often presented as necessary, helpful, or even beneficial in the moment. Each era came with its own justification and its own supposed silver lining.
The result is what families feel today: money that doesn’t stretch the way it used to, even when salaries are higher than they were before.
This way of thinking—looking beyond what’s immediately visible and asking what’s missing—is foundational to how we approach education as a brand. In fact, our very first book was built on Bastiat’s most famous work, The Law.
We wanted to teach the things that most adults were never taught as kids: how to examine incentives, unintended consequences, and the difference between appearances and reality.
Bastiat called it, “that which is seen and that which is not seen.”
Instead of asking kids to memorize conclusions, we want to give them a framework for thinking things through and coming to their own.
That’s why our books don’t look like traditional curriculum.
We use stories to show how decisions ripple outward, who bears the costs, and why good intentions don’t always lead to good outcomes. When kids grasp that framework early, it doesn’t just help them understand money or power, it helps them make sense of the world.
As Christmas break approaches and the pace slows, families naturally find themselves reading together, talking more, and letting questions hang around and resolve in their own time rather than rushing past them.
I’m always surprised by how welcoming kids are of parental effort.
They love when the adults in their lives decide to be more involved—to read with them, or to talk honestly about how the world works. More often than not, they respond to this effort with curiosity and even gratitude. Kids want to be taken seriously. They want to talk and think about big ideas!
Honestly, I’m willing to bet that any family that prioritizes meaningful conversation and quality time will cover more educational ground over Christmas break through stories and discussion than their kids have through most of the school year so far.
I don’t mean that as a criticism of teachers; it’s just the truth about how people learn best.
If you’ve been thinking about giving your kids or grandkids books that help them see past the surface and understand how the world actually works, today is the right day to do it.
Our Holiday Sale is still live, with up to 66% off our best bundles, but today is the last day to order in time for Christmas.
So if you’re looking for the gift that truly keeps on giving, these books are what you’ll want to put under the tree.
Because the truth is that the best learning doesn’t happen in classrooms or from textbooks and worksheets. The lessons kids remember are the ones learned in family discussions around dinner tables, on long car rides, and in cozy living rooms.
It’s never too late to take charge of the way your kids learn to think about the world. We’ve spent the last decade making resources to help you along.
Click here to shop our Holiday Sale now!
— Connor
