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639 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b 9 Nov 2023 \ on: The problem isn’t inflation. It’s prices. bitcoin
Empathizing with the author, I suppose they believe:
  1. the government doesn't lie
  2. economic conditions are more like a boulder than a yoyo
  3. the average person is too stupid to appreciate when their life is improving or not
It's especially sad because they explain the difference between government numbers and the public's perception using psychological glitches that we probably do have, but ignore that the effect of those are unquantifiable and thus yield a conveniently untestable hypothesis.
This article stares long at the lag between economic cause and effect:
Wage growth lagged inflation throughout much of the past couple of years, meaning that while people were getting more money in their paychecks, it didn’t feel like it because prices were going up so fast. But in 2023, that’s shifted, and wages are outpacing inflation once again. People at the lower end of the income spectrum, in particular, have made big gains on pay.
Yet somehow misses that today's cause is tomorrow's effect:
The rate of inflation really is slowing (and, if all goes well, will continue to do so), and the disorienting nature of what’s happened in the economy over the past few years will likely fade. Post-pandemic prices will eventually feel normal, and post-pandemic wages should make those prices more feasible — or at least not significantly less feasible than they were before. Sooner or later, sticker shock will feel a little less shocking.
Sideline: I hope at some point we stop expressing inflation as yearly rates and start expressing them in terms of future prices. 2% inflation per year sounds tiny relative to the effect of it compounding. If they had any desire to communicate what this means they'd add "our goal is to double the cost of goods and services in 36 years."
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417 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 9 Nov 2023
I think you nailed it. I agree with your theory on the author. In many ways you can't blame them. They have been brought up to believe all this stuff and have been pretty successful in the current system. Few people want to rip things apart and learn how they work. Few want to question the majority opinions and listen to "cranks" that are not respectable. Few are willing to be different. I know our culture likes to pretend we embrace diversity but that isn't true at all. I don't believe it has ever been true. So when the average Joe complains about the economy, of course they will side with the elite system that brought them to where they are today.
My theory is that eventually, no matter how many people believe a lie. No matter how blind people are, the truth will smack us all in the face. We can only delay it for a time. I don't pretend to be an economist but I've read enough and paid attention long enough to know we are in deep trouble. Those this author is listening to are incentivized to wave away the concerns of the plebs. The plebs are ignorant but they aren't stupid. They know their dollar isn't going as far as it did in 2019. They know they aren't making more money. They know it isn't a great time to be looking for a job. I don't care what chart they use to wave away these issue plebs aren't buying it. The more they try to wave this stuff away the more credibility they lose.
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 9 Nov 2023
Dude, it's Vox. They're basically propaganda for corporate democrats
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71 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 9 Nov 2023
I didn't expect anything different, but I like to attempt to make sense of arguments independent of the source.
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