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Comment by nxm | Hacker News Reader

2 trillion in unnecessary Covid related spending when Covid impact was winding down was the key reason for inflation. "$2000 checks!" was the campaign slogan

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People sometimes conveniently forgets that inflation historically has taken some 12-24 months to trickle through the economic system. That was the case this time, too. And the first inflationary impulses, famous for being "transitory", was actually before the Russian invasion of Eastern Europe.

We're blaming the 1000 dollar stimulus checks to the people and not the massive PPP loans that the government never bothered to collect on? It's amazing how well billionaires trained us to fight amongst one another as they ransack in broad daylight.

No. The checks were mostly meaningless.

The near zero interest rates, pause on student loan payments, pause on rent payments, doubling of unemployment pay, and then the dustings of stimulus checks and bonus childcare checks, all while most white collar workers just continued working like nothing happened, created an incredibly cash rich environment that most people have never seen before.

And the PPP loans handouts to business owners just to throw more gas on the fire.

Add the Inflation Reduction Act which did the exact opposite of its title (increased government spending when the labor market was extremely tight)

Don’t forget Fed Quantitative easing that inject a ton in as well.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/fed-response-to-covid19/

A lot of things were going on in the early 2020s that at least anecdotally seem to have disproportionately affected software jobs so I’m skeptical it’s purely an interest rate phenomenon. But the consensus does seem to be that software has gone from being a ridiculously easy job market by professional job standards to at least a moderately challenging one.

Software in the US has (aside from maybe finance) been an almost uniquely well-compensated field. That will probably adjust over time especially given the inflow of grads primarily in it for the money.

>A lot of things were going on in the early 2020s that at least anecdotally seem to have disproportionately affected software jobs so I’m skeptical it’s purely an interest rate phenomenon.

Software industry was over hiring probably ever since dot-com bubble because after the bubble burst revenue and profits were rapidly growing and it never really stopped. I would rather blame the managers who constantly pushed for more workers instead of increasing the productivity of the existing workforce.

It's all the same money printing. The issue is that people generally believe that emergency measures were justified in early 2020 when the crisis hit and there were so many unknowns, but not justified a year later when the virus was already endemic and the vaccine was out.

You have it backwards, inflation causes an increase in the money supply. When prices rise, it forces people to take on more debt causing an increase in the money supply. Those 2000 checks actually probably dampened inflation for a short while. Most people used those checks to pay down debt (which destroys money).

That's one of the factors. In Europe at least the other factor is high energy prices after the broken turbine theater and subsequent destruction of Nord Stream.

Prices and unemployment really started to rise after that. The EU buys overpriced LNG from the US, so the US is somewhat isolated from that. But the US is not isolated against the general economic downturn worldwide.

Politicians do not care. Merz, with barely 25% approval of the German population, continues the policies outlined by Hegseth during his visit to the EU. Trump still plays theater to appease his MAGA base, but Senators Rubio and Graham increasingly start holding the reins.

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