Inflation Is Your Fault | Hacker News Reader

Inflation Is Your Fault

theatlantic.com

9 pointstareqak5 comments

Interest rates are going up, driving cost upward but consumers are sceptical they will get interest on their own money that beats the inflation. So they buy things that are more expensive now than last year because they are able to estimate future cost (or future dollar loss of buying power).

Higher interest rates that push every organization to maximize profit are planned by the government not the consumer.

Antagonizing headlines like this one make me irrationally angry. They’re also a good way to make me lose interest in all of the Atlantic for a long, long time.

Counterpoints:

https://abovethelaw.com/2023/11/there-really-was-a-corporate... ("There Really Was A Corporate Conspiracy To Inflate Egg Prices, And It's Been Proven In Federal Court")

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-27/gasoline-... ("US Gasoline Prices Fall for 60 Straight Days in Win for US Holiday Spending")

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/08/apartment-rents-on-verge-of-... ("Apartment rents are on the verge of declining due to massive new supply")

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Travel/airfare-prices-plummet-pre... ("The cost of a plane ticket is plummeting: Experts say domestic airfare for the fall is down 29% from the summer.")

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/su... ("USDA: Prices declined for three food-at-home categories between September and October 2023. Four food-at-home categories had lower prices in October 2023 compared with October 2022: eggs, fresh vegetables, fish and seafood, and dairy products.")

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-08/food-pric... ("Food Prices Resume Decline Despite Lingering Supply Threats")

https://www.kansascityfed.org/research/economic-bulletin/cor... ("Corporate Profits Contributed a Lot to Inflation in 2021 but Little in 2022—A Pattern Seen in Past Economic Recoveries")

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/10/how-widespread-is-pr... ("How Widespread Is Price-Fixing in the US Economy?")

Thank you. I've seen all of these things in the last few months, but didn't have the patience to go round them up. This Atlantic article was poor, but especially the end. It started off somewhat talking about facts, and then just completely lost reality in the last couple paragraphs.

>Consumer spending rose 0.2 percent, after accounting for higher prices, in October, the most recent month for which the government has data

0.2% is not a lot. It's quite possible the adjustment for higher prices missed it somehow.

>People want to blame Joe Biden for their bills. They want to accuse stores of gouging them (though the evidence for “greedflation” is scant). The strange truth is that most people really are in a more comfortable position, even if they’re not happy about it. It’s not like a weak economy, stagnant wages, crummy consumer spending, and cheaper stuff would be better, after all.

It's quite obvious what is happening. Lifestyle creep due to low interest rates and artificially low costs took a whole generation and made them accustomed to a specific lifestyle they are loathe to give up. Meanwhile, young people are getting priced out of things that we'd traditionally save for (i.e. houses). At the same time, the dollar is worth less and less. So you may as well get something tangible with it while you have it. And rather than save up for a house you might be able to get a 30 year mortgage on by the time you're 45, might as well resign yourself to not thinking about that and spending the money while you're young and can enjoy it.

There is no reason to save right now, for most people.

That's exactly right. I've been saving for a home for 10 years and somehow keep falling further and further behind with how housing prices keep climbing. But unlike others I've decided not to mortgage myself into oblivion such that I'm 1 paycheck away from being homeless. Instead I'm at the mercy of my greedy landlords. Lose lose.

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