Elon Musk recently reposted a FEE social media clip of Milton Friedman discussing inflation. 

The post has nearly 44 million views and hundreds of thousands of likes. What caused this clip to resonate with people such that it caught Musk's attention and went so viral (garnering much more attention than the average post from Musk's account)?

Let's break down the clip into pieces to see why Friedman's wisdom resonates with us today.

'Inflation Is the Most Destructive Disease Known to Modern Societies'

The clip begins with a strong claim—inflation is unparalleled in its ability to destroy a society. Why would that be? Rising prices are bad, but can they really destroy a society?

Economists generally have a few different concerns with inflation's deleterious effects on society. First, high rates of inflation cause people to engage in costly activities to avoid losing purchasing power. For example, people will run to the bank as soon as they get their paychecks and start spending money on consumer goods or other assets which aren't losing value.

The resources and energy people use to convert deteriorating currency into stable assets are costly. In particular, economists call these costs shoe leather costs, alluding to how people would destroy their shoes in the now-metaphorical run to the bank.

Shoe leather costs are just one reason inflation is deleterious. Another reason inflation is harmful is that it disrupts money's function of keeping track of the value of things. When prices are stable, we generally comprehend the relative value of different goods.

For example, we know that going out to eat at a restaurant is about five times more expensive than eating at home. However, in a world where prices are increasing at a fast rate, it may be difficult to keep track of the relative cost of things, leading to wasteful decisions. Inflation makes accounting (formal and informal) difficult.

Finally, and most importantly, inflation destroys societies because it destroys the ability to save. When you keep money in a savings account, rising prices mean that the money will be able to buy relatively fewer things. For example, if you have $12,000 in your savings account, and you spend $1,000 on rent per month, you have a year's worth of rent in your savings account.

However, if inflation drives your rent up to $1,500 per month, your bank account now affords you four fewer months of rent.