People can afford more things now than the previous generation
There are things that increased in price faster, like college. But that’s offset by other things that didn’t increase as fast, like fuel. There are other things that got cheaper, like computers and phones. You’re cherry picking the things that got more expensive, but those are not 100% of a person’s expenses
Yeah and look 2 years back on your same graph and see the big 11% in one month.
And let’s not forget that this is multiplicative. So these months/years with high inflation are still felt today even if the inflation is relatively normal.
But you are disingenuous in your arguments, while accusing others of doing that same thing.
If the food cost follows the inflation and the inflation is 20%, will you say that food prices are ok because they follow inflation?
It would be fine if the wage followed the same inflation as food and housing, but the reality is that wage lag and stagnate behind inflation.
So yeah, if your groceries cost you 20% and you haven’t received an equivalent wage increase, then your groceries cost significantly more in absolute term because you still have the same money as before, but your food cost more for the same grocery basket you bought before inflation.
But again, you are disingenuous, so probably just a troll. I won’t respond anymore.
I would say you can’t use food as an argument for why 20% inflation is a wrong number
Remember, the inflation-adjusted earnings also have to go up 20% just to stay the same. You don’t have the same money as before, your paycheck must increase by 20% for your real earnings to stay the same.
If the graph says real earnings are up 1%, your paycheck went up 21%
If your paycheck didn’t increase, then you can just say that it didn’t track the inflation numbers, food prices or whatever doesn’t matter since it’s the real earnings that are too low
You’re missing the whole point. Think about it another way: You listed things that go down in value or get used up. They listed things that appreciate in value and build wealth.
You’re comparing (barely) being able to afford the cheap iPhones and gas to an education and homeownership.
Those things still cost money and you still need them.
If food prices didn’t go up as fast as housing, and you say “housing builds wealth and food gets used up” which is true, but you need to eat to live. Food not going up so fast is a good thing.
Housing building wealth is a bad thing. Houses should go down in value, we should be building so many that old houses should be worth less than me ones, like they do in Japan
People can afford more things now than the previous generation
There are things that increased in price faster, like college. But that’s offset by other things that didn’t increase as fast, like fuel. There are other things that got cheaper, like computers and phones. You’re cherry picking the things that got more expensive, but those are not 100% of a person’s expenses
It’s fun that tvs and computers got cheaper, but housing and food are through the roof.
It’s cool that I can buy a laptop for 500$ dollars, but it’s a one time purchase that we can live without.
Food is not through the roof
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/food-inflation
2.2% vs. the previous year
Yeah and look 2 years back on your same graph and see the big 11% in one month.
And let’s not forget that this is multiplicative. So these months/years with high inflation are still felt today even if the inflation is relatively normal.
But you are disingenuous in your arguments, while accusing others of doing that same thing.
So kindly fuck off
That’s in line with the inflation numbers. Food costs did not outpace inflation in any significant way
If the food cost follows the inflation and the inflation is 20%, will you say that food prices are ok because they follow inflation?
It would be fine if the wage followed the same inflation as food and housing, but the reality is that wage lag and stagnate behind inflation.
So yeah, if your groceries cost you 20% and you haven’t received an equivalent wage increase, then your groceries cost significantly more in absolute term because you still have the same money as before, but your food cost more for the same grocery basket you bought before inflation.
But again, you are disingenuous, so probably just a troll. I won’t respond anymore.
I would say you can’t use food as an argument for why 20% inflation is a wrong number
Remember, the inflation-adjusted earnings also have to go up 20% just to stay the same. You don’t have the same money as before, your paycheck must increase by 20% for your real earnings to stay the same.
If the graph says real earnings are up 1%, your paycheck went up 21%
If your paycheck didn’t increase, then you can just say that it didn’t track the inflation numbers, food prices or whatever doesn’t matter since it’s the real earnings that are too low
You’re missing the whole point. Think about it another way: You listed things that go down in value or get used up. They listed things that appreciate in value and build wealth.
You’re comparing (barely) being able to afford the cheap iPhones and gas to an education and homeownership.
Those things still cost money and you still need them.
If food prices didn’t go up as fast as housing, and you say “housing builds wealth and food gets used up” which is true, but you need to eat to live. Food not going up so fast is a good thing.
Housing building wealth is a bad thing. Houses should go down in value, we should be building so many that old houses should be worth less than me ones, like they do in Japan