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Comment by gnarbarian | Hacker News Reader

does this mean we can get cheap containers?

No, it means you can ship cheap trash from point A to point B, but people on either end will be too poor to buy it.

On the contrary, it means people's spending power is increasing because supply is getting cheaper.

That would only be true if the solution was a debottlenecking of transportation points such as port loading/unloading. If the equilibrium solution was "volumes stagnated but people got priced out of goods because shipping was too expensive", then not so much.

The demand for shipping containers is driven by demand for goods which is driven by consumption which is declining because people do not have the money for imported goods. Many people are struggling just to make rent and put food on the table. Buying things imported from abroad is on the back burner. The spending power of the consumer, or lack, is why demand is down and supply up.

Sure, you can always find some people struggling. But your statement simply doesn't match reality. Retail sales are growing fast https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/nrf-forecasts-20.... Discretionary spending on travel is through the roof. https://www.mastercardservices.com/en/reports-insights/econo...

You seriously want to toss out travel spending as an indicator of how well things are going for the general population? Travel is a luxury, and rich people are not hurting yet. The people at the bottom of the economy ,your average walmart and target shopper, is who is hurting. Also, raw dollars is not a good metric for how much stuff is being bought. Sales in dollars can be way up, but the amount or quantity of goods can be flat or down when those goods are being purchased with a rapidly debased currency.

> goods are being purchased with a rapidly debased currency.

so you can check if the increase is caused by debasement by looking at the inflation; if the increase in sales dollars is higher than inflation, it means that the debasement isn't an explanation of the increase in sales figures.

I've been on a lot of flights lately, and in a lot of tourist towns. It ain't all rich people.

>> goods are being purchased with a rapidly debased currency

cheaper goods re-base the currency. Cheaper goods is deflationary. There is no such situation where raw dollars buy more today and are worth less than they were yesterday; that would be an oxymoron. Of course dollars aren't a great metric for wealth, because they float around like any other fiat currency. But if your Big Mac Index buys you an extra Big Mac, whether because supply increased or demand decreased or shipping just got 90% cheaper, that's the opposite of inflation.

There are always struggling segments of the population, but travel is less of a luxury than it has ever been. I talk to and have gotten to know the people who work at the local stores I frequent, and I've been surprised by the number of them who want to talk about their recent travel.

Too many paperclips on the market. Marketing levels need a boost.

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