5 ms·

If bread becomes 10x as expensive, who will be hurt more?

kashkhan 10y ago
The homeless guy has no money to buy a $3 loaf today. After he gets a million dollars he will have money to buy a $30 loaf of bread.
- JLK_121416 10y ago
  Ok, but if the homeless guy gets $1.000.000, inflation will be much higher than 10-fold... Actually, I guess, the real losers would be middle class...
  - bbcbasic 10y ago
    The real losers will be those who can't manage their money.
  - kashkhan 10y ago
    No it won't. Assuming the stuff we have in US is the same, increasing the amount of money 10 fold will increase prices 10 fold. The difference will be that the ratio between the median and the top 0.1% will become more equitable.
- marcofloriano 10y ago
  I think that's why poor countries suffer so much. Our rulers don't understand basic economy and money. Look at Venezuela right now or Brazil. Our rulers think they can just print money and distribute it. But the truth is: money is just a tool, a way to get something. In your example, there's no point in giving a million dollars to the homeless, it would make much more sense to make the $3 loaf cost 0,3 cents. Now everybody can buy it. But if you just drop money in the lap of somebody that doesn't know how to produce value and change this value for money, those who produce the real value and owns the means to produce it will still making more money from those who can't produce. To solve that: take the homeless, provide basic care and opportunities for him start to produce value. Then the money will come.
  - kashkhan 10y ago
    The situation in hyper-inflation like in brasil in 80s is different than helicopter money. We can use helicopter money to eliminate poverty. Its just one way of many. The world doesn't need most of the people to work. Today what you actually consume is produced by <20% of people working. Most products are produced by machines and not labor. The homeless don't need to work, because society can provide for them even if they don't.

The homeless guy has no money to buy a $3 loaf today. After he gets a million dollars he will have money to buy a $30 loaf of bread.

JLK_121416 10y ago
Ok, but if the homeless guy gets $1.000.000, inflation will be much higher than 10-fold... Actually, I guess, the real losers would be middle class...
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  The real losers will be those who can't manage their money.
- kashkhan 10y ago
  No it won't. Assuming the stuff we have in US is the same, increasing the amount of money 10 fold will increase prices 10 fold. The difference will be that the ratio between the median and the top 0.1% will become more equitable.
marcofloriano 10y ago
I think that's why poor countries suffer so much. Our rulers don't understand basic economy and money. Look at Venezuela right now or Brazil. Our rulers think they can just print money and distribute it. But the truth is: money is just a tool, a way to get something. In your example, there's no point in giving a million dollars to the homeless, it would make much more sense to make the $3 loaf cost 0,3 cents. Now everybody can buy it. But if you just drop money in the lap of somebody that doesn't know how to produce value and change this value for money, those who produce the real value and owns the means to produce it will still making more money from those who can't produce. To solve that: take the homeless, provide basic care and opportunities for him start to produce value. Then the money will come.
- kashkhan 10y ago
  The situation in hyper-inflation like in brasil in 80s is different than helicopter money. We can use helicopter money to eliminate poverty. Its just one way of many. The world doesn't need most of the people to work. Today what you actually consume is produced by <20% of people working. Most products are produced by machines and not labor. The homeless don't need to work, because society can provide for them even if they don't.