Further to this, all exported goods cost more to bring in. This is how it effects the poor. If the poor don't get a proportional increase, then basic goods cost more. The poor get poorer.

It is relevant because the effects inside the country and the effects in the global market are different. If Best Buy brings in a Panasonic TV from Japan, Best Buy has to give that country a certain amount of money that is relative in that country. So Best Buy has to pay the equivalent of $500 in Japan, then sells it me for $900. So sure, if my country prints more money and I get a raise, I can better afford the $900 TV locally. The problem is that after printing more currency, my dollar is worth less globally, due to my initial example. As a result, Best Buy will now need $700 to meet the same value for Japan in Japanese currency. In turn, the next time Best Buy sells me a TV, they need to charge $1200.

I recently came across this example: An object is worth $100. 100 coins are produced so each coin represent 1/100 value. If you subsequently print 100 more coins, each coin becomes less valuable at 1/200. The total value of the object remains the same, there are just more coins representing that value. So think of the "object" as a country's value globally. In the global market, the value of the country stays the same. Printing more coins results in each coin being worth less. Does that make sense? I'd like others to chime in if I missed the mark.

I heard recently that humans have essentially stopped natural selection in the traditional sense. The idea behind the statement is that we live in a world where people who are not "best suited to the environment" are able to reproduce causing subsequent generations to carry on unhelpful traits, like very poor eyesight. Nature without modern intervention would leave a significant portion of the population in a position to never reproduce allowing for the natural evolution that accompanies advantageous mutations to be passed on through generations. The statement, of course, is a generalization. We have really changed the game. Only in upcoming generations will humans know what the cumulative effect will be. Maybe it should be called "the age of unnatural selection."