For the first time in a very long time, the inflation rate in Germany reached double digits in September.
The strong price increases had recently been felt everywhere, whether when filling up, when shopping or even when eating out.
And how expensive heating has become, many people only really realize now in the cold season.
Economically, the difference may not be huge, whether inflation is just below or above 10 percent - but the psychological effect should not be underestimated.
Inflation rates in Germany were last in the double digits in the early 1950s;
with a method of calculation that was partly different at the time.
In the 1970s, when the oil price shocks in the United States, for example, caused double-digit inflation rates, Germany was spared - not least thanks to the stability-oriented monetary policy of the Bundesbank.
Hyperinflation memories
High inflation rates in Germany still bring back memories of the hyperinflation of the 1920s.
The time when the Reichsbank complained that the production and transport costs of paper money had risen so much that they exceeded the nominal value of the banknotes.
Despite all the increases in paper prices, Germany is miles away from that today.
The current inflation is also in no way comparable to that of the past in terms of causes, form and level.
In a way, inflation is a global phenomenon right now.
In many countries, energy price increases have pushed up inflation rates;
even in Japan, where nobody could have imagined that for a long time.
Nevertheless there are differences.
In America, for example, it is more demand that drives inflation – in the euro area, disruptions on the supply side primarily play a role, with demand effects only adding to this.
In Germany, fuel discounts and a 9-euro ticket curbed inflation for three months;
the price jump was correspondingly stronger now.
All of this shouldn't end anytime soon.
Because the "double boom" announced by Chancellor Scholz makes financial policy even more expansive in order to spare citizens and companies burdens.
That doesn't fight inflation - at most it masks it.