It is immensely frustrating. The things we're able to purchase nowadays are also worse in quality, whilst not dropping in price, because profits. Take for example the newest breed of GPUs on the...
It is immensely frustrating. The things we're able to purchase nowadays are also worse in quality, whilst not dropping in price, because profits. Take for example the newest breed of GPUs on the market, the low end is practically dead, because these GPUs are being outmatched by ones created generations ago, and the prices are still ludicrously high.
This, mind you, after the pandemic, after the peak of the "chip crisis", after the worst days of the Ukraine war. Whatever excuse they can come up with, it is simply not going to stick anymore. I'm tired of hearing about "unprecedented times".
Covid isn't ancient history though; it's not like it was a one time event in 2020. Over 3000 people in the US were dying from it per week January of this year. China was still having lockdowns...
Covid isn't ancient history though; it's not like it was a one time event in 2020. Over 3000 people in the US were dying from it per week January of this year. China was still having lockdowns last year, notably in Shenzhen and Shanghai (the two largest manufacturing centers in China). We're all hoping for a quick return to "normal," but it's been a really significant global event, which should be expected to have economic ripples that extend for at least a few years.
While this is true, in the context of graphics cards specifically it's an excuse to distract from the real reason why graphics cards are so expensive (chasing AI hype, and before that it was...
While this is true, in the context of graphics cards specifically it's an excuse to distract from the real reason why graphics cards are so expensive (chasing AI hype, and before that it was cryptocurrency)
The worst thing to me is that the news kept saying that there would be a "wage - price" spiral if we raised the wages. Not only was there no proof of this, this obviously also furthers the...
The worst thing to me is that the news kept saying that there would be a "wage - price" spiral if we raised the wages. Not only was there no proof of this, this obviously also furthers the interests of corporations. Our press is bought and our entire society is rife with the capitalist mindset.
Honestly it makes me feel so powerless, so many people suffer because a few people need to buy a 3rd yacht or a 4th BMW. Why are they like this? Do they feel no empathy for others? Only because the "shareholders" need more money is it okay to fuck over 90%+ of people? I just cannot comprehend them at all.
I'm curious to see some actual stats on this. Minimum wage or $8 an hour was pretty commonplace before the pandemic. Now, the minimum you see jobs advertised for is more like $13-$15/hour. So the...
I'm curious to see some actual stats on this. Minimum wage or $8 an hour was pretty commonplace before the pandemic. Now, the minimum you see jobs advertised for is more like $13-$15/hour. So the ultra low-end earners got a nice bump. It's the middle class that didn't see much of an increase. At least that's what it seems like.
Wage-price spiral is not typical. It only happens in exceptionally tight labor markets. Baby boomers accelerating retirement, labor winding down during covid shutdowns, etc. Lagging impact on...
Wage-price spiral is not typical. It only happens in exceptionally tight labor markets. Baby boomers accelerating retirement, labor winding down during covid shutdowns, etc.
Lagging impact on earnings even up until late 2022 had this as an input.
Firms raised markups during 2021 in anticipation of future cost pressures, contributing substantially to inflation. This is the counter point to the alarmist news that corporations are in for some...
Firms raised markups during 2021 in anticipation of future cost pressures, contributing substantially to inflation.
But it's important to note, that when companies are in trouble, they fire real human beings. Even though corporations have made inflation worse by excessive profit taking, everyone pays the price when a recession happens.
Oh, but corporations are people too, you see. Legally. A nice fiction. Based on laws the corporations helped create. Think of the people! The snark in me is strong today. What I want to know is,...
Oh, but corporations are people too, you see. Legally. A nice fiction. Based on laws the corporations helped create. Think of the people!
The snark in me is strong today. What I want to know is, when does it break? How much do people have to vote with their feet? How much do they have to cut back, even when there isn't really much left to cut back on? Or what else has to happen to stop this?
Every month, my grocery bill goes up. I'm buying the same stuff. I see people looking more carefully at the prices and walking around with smaller carts. Takeout? No thanks. The prices will have gone up again, portion will be smaller, and the quality worse (again). I don't blame the restaurants for it. But the madness can only go on for so long. Right?
Yeah I thought the inflation at the grocery store would finally be leveling out by now, but it seems every week prices are going up still. We are spending basically double what we did before the...
Yeah I thought the inflation at the grocery store would finally be leveling out by now, but it seems every week prices are going up still. We are spending basically double what we did before the pandemic, and we are eating significantly less meat now. And I'm not replacing that meat with expensive meat substitutes, but vegetables and eggs which are significantly less than meat costs now.
Back before the pandemic we ordered out A LOT because I had a hell of a commute. There is no way we could afford that now, take out food price increases have been even worse than groceries. And I'm a DevOps Engineer, I'm not hurting for money. But things are getting tight even for me. And my company wants to promote me for a 5% raise which is basically a pay cut!
I'm not sure how the average person is getting by right now, especially in HCOL areas. And there is no end in sight.
Maybe the way to think about it is that some companies are in trouble and others are pretty successful. So, we might see more churn for a while and that’s bad for the people involved. Higher...
Maybe the way to think about it is that some companies are in trouble and others are pretty successful. So, we might see more churn for a while and that’s bad for the people involved.
Higher interest rates put pressure on every company, but the stronger ones might do pretty well.
Ugh, this sickens me. As others rightfully noted, prices go up, profits go up, but pay/salaries stay the same (or relatively-speaking go down)...and why, is it because these companies "needed to"...
Ugh, this sickens me. As others rightfully noted, prices go up, profits go up, but pay/salaries stay the same (or relatively-speaking go down)...and why, is it because these companies "needed to" raise prices, and "unexpectedly" received higher profits (which had some effect on inflation)? I call bull on this. Companies do things for many reasons, and often it is the most painfully frustrating one: because they can. :-(
Sorry everyone for my grumpiness. I'm going stop working for today (near end of my workday), and begin my weekend with the hopes of feeling better. I hope you all do the same; feel better, that is! ;-)
"Greedflation" seems to depend on corporations raising prices "because they can." This article seems to provide some arguments against that idea. A few quotes from the linked article: So, it seems...
"Greedflation" seems to depend on corporations raising prices "because they can." This article seems to provide some arguments against that idea.
A few quotes from the linked article:
We present evidence that the timing and cross-industry patterns of markup growth are more consistent with firms raising prices in anticipation of future cost increases, rather than an increase in monopoly power or higher demand.
inflation cannot be explained by a persistent increase in market power after the pandemic
if monopolists raising prices in the face of higher demand were driving markup growth, we would expect firms with larger increases in current demand to have accordingly larger markups. Instead, markup growth was similar across industries that experienced very different levels of demand (and inflation) in 2021
We conclude that an increase in markups likely provides a signal that price setters expect persistent increases in their future costs of production
So, it seems like price increases were not arbitrary or just because they can. It would be interesting to see how much past pricing before the pandemic has been dictated by projected costs rather than current costs. Is this just the norm and we're just noticing it because of high overall inflation, or did something change?
My general interpretation is that it wasn't greedflation, but then the companies saw that it was basically the same thing and they just made more money so why not try some convenient greedflation...
My general interpretation is that it wasn't greedflation, but then the companies saw that it was basically the same thing and they just made more money so why not try some convenient greedflation in the future?
It is immensely frustrating. The things we're able to purchase nowadays are also worse in quality, whilst not dropping in price, because profits. Take for example the newest breed of GPUs on the market, the low end is practically dead, because these GPUs are being outmatched by ones created generations ago, and the prices are still ludicrously high.
This, mind you, after the pandemic, after the peak of the "chip crisis", after the worst days of the Ukraine war. Whatever excuse they can come up with, it is simply not going to stick anymore. I'm tired of hearing about "unprecedented times".
Covid isn't ancient history though; it's not like it was a one time event in 2020. Over 3000 people in the US were dying from it per week January of this year. China was still having lockdowns last year, notably in Shenzhen and Shanghai (the two largest manufacturing centers in China). We're all hoping for a quick return to "normal," but it's been a really significant global event, which should be expected to have economic ripples that extend for at least a few years.
While this is true, in the context of graphics cards specifically it's an excuse to distract from the real reason why graphics cards are so expensive (chasing AI hype, and before that it was cryptocurrency)
The worst thing to me is that the news kept saying that there would be a "wage - price" spiral if we raised the wages. Not only was there no proof of this, this obviously also furthers the interests of corporations. Our press is bought and our entire society is rife with the capitalist mindset.
Honestly it makes me feel so powerless, so many people suffer because a few people need to buy a 3rd yacht or a 4th BMW. Why are they like this? Do they feel no empathy for others? Only because the "shareholders" need more money is it okay to fuck over 90%+ of people? I just cannot comprehend them at all.
I'm curious to see some actual stats on this. Minimum wage or $8 an hour was pretty commonplace before the pandemic. Now, the minimum you see jobs advertised for is more like $13-$15/hour. So the ultra low-end earners got a nice bump. It's the middle class that didn't see much of an increase. At least that's what it seems like.
Wage-price spiral is not typical. It only happens in exceptionally tight labor markets. Baby boomers accelerating retirement, labor winding down during covid shutdowns, etc.
Lagging impact on earnings even up until late 2022 had this as an input.
Firms raised markups during 2021 in anticipation of future cost pressures, contributing substantially to inflation.
This is the counter point to the alarmist news that corporations are in for some trouble over the next year.
But it's important to note, that when companies are in trouble, they fire real human beings. Even though corporations have made inflation worse by excessive profit taking, everyone pays the price when a recession happens.
Oh, but corporations are people too, you see. Legally. A nice fiction. Based on laws the corporations helped create. Think of the people!
The snark in me is strong today. What I want to know is, when does it break? How much do people have to vote with their feet? How much do they have to cut back, even when there isn't really much left to cut back on? Or what else has to happen to stop this?
Every month, my grocery bill goes up. I'm buying the same stuff. I see people looking more carefully at the prices and walking around with smaller carts. Takeout? No thanks. The prices will have gone up again, portion will be smaller, and the quality worse (again). I don't blame the restaurants for it. But the madness can only go on for so long. Right?
Yeah I thought the inflation at the grocery store would finally be leveling out by now, but it seems every week prices are going up still. We are spending basically double what we did before the pandemic, and we are eating significantly less meat now. And I'm not replacing that meat with expensive meat substitutes, but vegetables and eggs which are significantly less than meat costs now.
Back before the pandemic we ordered out A LOT because I had a hell of a commute. There is no way we could afford that now, take out food price increases have been even worse than groceries. And I'm a DevOps Engineer, I'm not hurting for money. But things are getting tight even for me. And my company wants to promote me for a 5% raise which is basically a pay cut!
I'm not sure how the average person is getting by right now, especially in HCOL areas. And there is no end in sight.
Maybe the way to think about it is that some companies are in trouble and others are pretty successful. So, we might see more churn for a while and that’s bad for the people involved.
Higher interest rates put pressure on every company, but the stronger ones might do pretty well.
Ugh, this sickens me. As others rightfully noted, prices go up, profits go up, but pay/salaries stay the same (or relatively-speaking go down)...and why, is it because these companies "needed to" raise prices, and "unexpectedly" received higher profits (which had some effect on inflation)? I call bull on this. Companies do things for many reasons, and often it is the most painfully frustrating one: because they can. :-(
Sorry everyone for my grumpiness. I'm going stop working for today (near end of my workday), and begin my weekend with the hopes of feeling better. I hope you all do the same; feel better, that is! ;-)
"Greedflation" seems to depend on corporations raising prices "because they can." This article seems to provide some arguments against that idea.
A few quotes from the linked article:
So, it seems like price increases were not arbitrary or just because they can. It would be interesting to see how much past pricing before the pandemic has been dictated by projected costs rather than current costs. Is this just the norm and we're just noticing it because of high overall inflation, or did something change?
My general interpretation is that it wasn't greedflation, but then the companies saw that it was basically the same thing and they just made more money so why not try some convenient greedflation in the future?