Hacker News Reader

Comment by enriquec | Hacker News Reader

Kind of - but it ignores the fact that the tightening was to fight inflation due to insane amounts of government spending. And the government just upped the ante and is spending more. Right now the national debt is growing faster than the economy. Expect everything to get a lot worse.

View on HN

How do you explain the inflation found in EU countries, even ones with vastly different government spend and national debt profiles?

You're overfocusing on one single component of a fairly complex system. Government spending, COVID impacts (pent up demand, supply chain disruptions), a massive war in Europe impacting multiple crucial raw materials - they all have a part in the stagnation / borderline recession we're seeing. Anyone claiming it's "simple" or due to one single factor either has an agenda or doesn't understand how complex economics are.

We've had massive government spending for >20 years now. When looking for explanations for new conditions, look for what has changed, not what hasn't changed.

"I'm not obese because I've been over eating. I've always over eaten" The printing isn't new and neither are the recessions. They're just making them worse.

Good metaphor. One does not get suddenly obese, it happens gradually and steadily and is well correlated with overeating. Your metaphor illustrates my point, not yours.

How's that? If someone says "why am I so overweight?" do you say that it can't be the eating because that hasn't changed?

Yes.

If you've been eating the same for the last 20 years and you've been gradually gaining weight over the last 20 years, then it's your diet.

If you've been eating the same for the last 20 years and you suddenly gain weight, it's likely not your diet, it's something else -- exercise, illness, et cetera.

... no

Reply on news.ycombinator.com