Snappy had been really busy during the Fall season. He had gathered lots of acorns and had stored them safely in Owlโs Bank.
But Snappy had hunted everywhere for his favorite pine cones with tasty pine nuts inside without finding many for winter.
Last year, he could trade five acorns for a big pine cone, but this year, there were so many acorns on the ground that every animal had plenty.
Some greedy chipmunks quickly started offering six acorns for one pine cone.
Soon the animals who had pine cones wouldnโt sell for fewer than six or even seven acorns.
Snappy was discouraged by this trend, because next year there might not be as many acorns on the ground. If he traded too many this year, he would have to work harder next year to replenish his stores.
Even worse, he had many acorns collected and was ready to trade them for the pine cones he craved, but the price of pine cones was going up and up.
Snappy was worried that he would either go hungry this winter or learn how to eat acorns, which he didnโt much like.
Snappy now understood that when everyone has lots of acorns, the major forest currency, each acorn can buy or be traded for less than before.
This is called โinflationโ and is a drag on an economy or marketplace.