The government likes to come up with all sorts of dubious reasoning as to what the real inflation rate is, but somehow it seems that consistently that government underestimates what the real inflation amount actually is, for the common citizen. In point of fact, for instance, there is a world of difference, between someone that owns their home, as contrasted to someone that rents, when it comes to inflation; for on the one hand, the owner of the home, is typically seeing their home price appreciate in value; whereas, the person so renting, typically just ends up paying a higher price for their rent. To a very large extent, inflation impacts different people, different incomes, and different wealth levels in a manner in which those that have little or nothing are often the ones that end up holding the short end of the stick. After all, people need food to eat, fuel for their car, energy for their living space, insurance of all types, and so on and so forth, of which, in an era in which inflation is persistent, this impacts those that are the most vulnerable, the most; because often their wages are something that is not automatically inflation-adjusted, so that therefore higher inflation, essentially means that they are effectively suffering from the ill-effects of a wage cut.
So too, those that know that inflation is coming, because of inside knowledge, or their superior ability to read the signs of the times, are able to therefore have a significant leg up, upon all those that do not. For a certainty, when economic change comes, such as significantly higher inflation, those that have positioned themselves well for just this type of scenario are able to navigate the tricky waters, a heck of a lot better than those that have not. Further, when a business is able to charge a higher price for that which they are selling, but on the other hand, their labor costs remain essentially flat, than inflation, for these companies, is not a bad thing.
The bottom line is that inflation is the debasement of the coin of the realm. This thus signifies that a dollar today is not the same as a dollar tomorrow, nor is it the same as a dollar in the past. Those nations that have little or no inflation, have demonstrated the integrity of their monetary system; whereas those that have meaningful inflation, have not. After all, debts so incurred, are typically paid at some future time, and when those debts, because of inflation, have essentially become cheaper to service, because the dollar has been debased, then the debtor has, in effect, received a discount upon their debt.
In an era in which inflation is persistent for any extended period of time, those that are just managing to get by, are susceptible to losing the little that they have; because their income has appreciably weakened, vis-à-vis their expenses. All those that do not have their wage salary, indexed to inflation, or suffer from the absence of periodic wage raises, have been placed into the unenviable position of trying to make ends meet, with even less at their disposal, then they had, before inflation.