What's causing all the inflation?

I personally dislike merchanting because I'd rather the item just go to someone that wants/needs it, and I don't like struggling to find something because merchants have bought it out. It adds extra steps to the producer/consumer relationship that are unnecessary and serve no purpose other than to shuffle the item around from person to person until the buyer that actually needs or wants it has to pay 3-4times more for it than he originally would.

Middle men exist in any economy where profit can be made from the difference between what sellers are willing to sell for and what buyers are willing to pay. Middle men make transactions easier. lern2economics

I'm not even bothered by the inflation right now. I'm satisfied with the equips I have and I don't really care about money unless I need it to improve my training ability or pay for pots.