• PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat
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    2 days ago

    “Inflation” to economists is how much the price is going up this month.

    “Inflation” to most people is how much stuff costs.

    It feels like there needs to be some acknowledgement of that when this is all talked about, after the superinflation of 2022. The goal should be that prices go back down, not that they go back to going up by 3% per year now that they’re way up high.

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 hours ago

      to most people is how much stuff costs.

      inflation to most people is an increase in the cost of stuff* FTFY

      also to be clear, the goal is that wages rise to meet the increased inflation, that’s the historical trend.

    • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      You really don’t want deflation. The correct thing now is for wages to go up to match the new costs and this has been happening.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        That’s not really true though. The only way to maintain infinite inflation is with infinite growth. But we only have finite resources. We also have modern examples of countries that experience deflation and they aren’t the horror shows that the finance industry wants about. For example, Japan.

        • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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          58 minutes ago

          The only way to maintain infinite inflation is with infinite growth

          No - monetary policy also effects inflation. See also “stagflation”.

          We also have modern examples of countries that experience deflation and they aren’t the horror shows that the finance industry wants about. For example, Japan.

          It doesn’t have to be a “horror show” for it to be “bad”. Japan’s “lost decades” are hardly desirable.

          Deflation would mean money is worth more. Great! But then prices drop. And then salaries drop. And now the ability for somebody to pay back a 30-yr. fixed mortgage gets harder over time rather than easier as it does in an inflationary environment.

          So yeah - I’d rather a pay rise to match (or hopefully exceed) inflation that makes it easier for me to repay loans.

          Edit: Oh - and frankly the thing that tends to lead to “disaster” is a rapid change in any direction. The entire goal of the “2%” inflation is “price stability”. The US economy going into deflation would be catastrophic from our current trend.

    • Windex007@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The levers which incentives wages closing the gap on the “super inflation” are probably more realistic than the levers that would cause the prices of everything to deflate.