@Komnene @kaia
The question in the subtitle is stupid on so many levels 🤦
Like yeah, when your money is losing value and you can't save, that's a very reasonable thing to do — convert that money, which is losing value, into something that might be losing its value less. And as most people can't really "diversify their investments", that's what they do — they start buying things.
Can't believe that this is The Atlantic 😩
@finlaydag33k
Often true and yet, it's something they can use — unlike money in a bank that they can spend on less things. They get a new car not with intent of selling it for more, but because in a year they might not be able to afford a better car and often even the same one — so why wait?
The question wasn't whether it's the optimal investment strategy, but why they do this — that's why. Inflation makes people give up their long-term plans 🤷
@Komnene @kaia
@finlaydag33k
BTW as a Russian — I've seen a couple of cases when even getting a loan and spending it on total shit like shiny new computer or phone wasn't such a bad idea, because it was literally about never seeing interest rates like that ever again 😂
But I don't think that Americans will ever experience something like that in their life.
Here people buy foreign currencies like US Dollars or Euros when they foresee high inflation risks — basically it's the same as buying TVs.
@Komnene @kaia
I don't know what the author's point is because I didn't care enough to get through the paywall and my expectations weren't very high, I just liked the title
@Komnene
Yeah, consumerism is also a problem — most would spend their money not on something that would enable them to earn more and not even on something that would increase their quality of life, but on something completely useless.
But it's a different problem — same as perceived inflation that they often refer to in these articles.
And yet high inflation is usually a quite clear message from central banks: it's time to spend, not to save.
@Komnene
If you ask me, what they are attempting to do with articles like that is to send mixed messages, so some (businesses) get the message right and start investing, and others (consumers and people who work day to day jobs) don't: "Just trust your monetary and financial institutions, are you stupid?!"
Nothing good will come out of this IMO.
I might be wrong and this article could be about something else — but I won't hold my hopes high, not with a subtitle like that.
@m0xee I read the article, it's not about "money becomes worth less, so we spend it on other stuff" but just a very convoluted way to explain what is known as "demand-pull inflation" (only part of the equation in reality for inflation as a whole).
It boils down to: "we have more money to spend so we spend it instead of saving".
Paywall-less version:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/inflation-is-your-fault/ar-AA1kQ9f0
@m0xee @Komnene @kaia @finlaydag33k One thing you're missing is that this is an election year and we know from the example of 1980 that a terrible record including most especially economic is very bad for the incumbent. Carter and Reagan had one "debate" and the latter asked "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?"
So there's a massive effort to gaslight the American public into believing inflation isn't as bad as it is. Too bad that every time we buy gas or groceries we're reminded of just how bad "Bideninflation" has been.
(Note we don't do real debates at the Federal presidential level, instead "journalists" gang up with the Democrat to pelter the Republican with attacks, lies, etc.)
Consumerism is driven by high taxes which force corner-cutting on companies.
@m0xee
A bunch of the expensive things people buy (cars, smartphones, laptops/gaming PCs etc.), lose value much faster than the money it was bought with.
Assuming you paid it off in one go and didn't get a loan or something (which would make it even worse value).
@Komnene @kaia