The Consequences of Crippling Inflation

I am sure you have all been reading in the news over the course of the last year or so about the impact that inflation is having on society. Things are always going to cost more – that’s simply the way finances work – so no, I’m not so worried about that guy who keeps screaming, “I remember when I used to be able to get a slice of pizza for a quarter. Bring back Nixon!” But it is undeniable that this has been a belt-tightening time as costs for just about everything are rising more quickly than many would like.

And, well, at CMEpalooza, things are unfortunately no different.

That is why Derek and I had a very long talk last week about the impact of inflation and the cost of our biannual events. We went back and forth — many hours of mostly silence on the phone (“Are you still there?” “Yeah” “You?” “Yep”) — before deciding that the registration costs for CMEpalooza will, effective immediately, be increasing by 25%. It pains me even to write that, but it was simply unavoidable.

Now I know that some of you didn’t excel in math as students, so let me explain to you what that means in dollars and cents. The “old” cost of attending CMEpalooza was $0. Now multiply this by 25% (or 0.25) and you get the new cost of attending CMEpalooza. If you’ve done things correctly, you should find that this “new” cost of attending CMEpalooza is $0.

(Remember that anything multiplied by zero is zero. So I could have said, “We’re increasing the cost by 34150%” and the result wouldn’t have been any different.)

That’s right folks — CMEpalooza will continue, for now and forever, to be free for everyone.

Our panels for CMEpalooza Fall are furiously working on content for the best education that money can’t buy. So put away your wallets, mark down your calendars for Wednesday, October 18, and enjoy that $25 hamburger at the restaurant down the street guilt free.