Sometimes inflation spirals into hyperinflation—when the money supply expands so rapidly that currency loses its scarcity and effectively ceases to function as money. The public then “flees into real values,” rushing to exchange their money for anything tangible, which drives up demand and prices. In essence, this is a textbook positive feedback loop spiraling out of control. Characteristically, nobody knows where the boundary between inflation and hyperinflation lies. Hyperinflation, as a rule, means the death of the monetary unit in which it began.