3 ms·

This is the 27th straight month of inflation. It was labeled transitory, and people who rang the alarm were ridiculed. They expected a .1% drop and instead we

by mc32 4y ago

This is the 27th straight month of inflation. It was labeled transitory, and people who rang the alarm were ridiculed. They expected a .1% drop and instead we got an .1% increase. But people are celebrating, it was only a .1% raise. The contortions... They'd better fix this now before the elections real quick. Handing out candy (ala student debt forgiveness) surely will prolong our diabetes. Instead allow students to declare bankruptcy on student debt.

lamontcg 4y ago
Who is "celebrating"? The markets are down 3% so far today.
sbelskie 4y ago
Given that CPI was flat last month, I’m curious what you mean by 27th straight month?
- abduhl 4y ago
  I'm also confused by the OP. CPI has been above the Fed's 2% target since roughly the start of 2021, so even by that metric ("above 2% means a month of inflation") the OP seems off. I'm not really sure what it means to be a "month of inflation" honestly, inflation is always occurring in the US by design (and when it isn't there is usually a large global calamity taking place causing deflation). See https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPILFESL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPILFESL or https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=rocU https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=rocU
robotcapital 4y ago
> Instead allow students to declare bankruptcy on student debt. I'm curious what impact people think this would have. Or if there's any research on the subject. My initial reaction was that giving out more debt relief could only lead to more inflation. But on second thought I could see only a much smaller segment that is struggling with debt willing to go through bankruptcy. While I buy that that would be less regressive than the current proposed debt forgiveness plan, I don't see how this would affect inflation (or elections, for that matter) in any meaningful way.
- mc32 4y ago
  Colleges and universities would hold the bag and would be more judicious about the prospects they’re willing to bet on. Right now they know they don’t lose.
  - gausswho 4y ago
    The majority of student loans are structured such that the US government makes whole any lender who has a student loan in default. It's argued by some that this incentivizes colleges to relentlessly raise tuition. They win either way.
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      This is not true. The Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 removed government guarantees for non government student loans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Care_and_Education_Reconciliation_Act_of_2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Care_and_Education_Reco... > Ending the process of the federal government giving subsidies to private banks to give out federally insured loans. Instead loans will be administered directly by the Department of Education.[23] Or course, the problem was and is the taxpayer funded loans with zero underwriting, so the root issue was never resolved, and hence why colleges continue to raise tuition since their customers continue to receive blank checks from the government. There should be zero taxpayer funded higher education loans. If the people want to help students pay for education, then give them cash or give cash to the universities. The reason this is not politically popular is that it increases government expenses, rather than loans that muddy the higher education market and ultimately screw students and future taxpayers. But excessively borrowing from the future to keep taxes down today and indebt certain portions of the population rather than providing non discriminatory assistance is par for the course.

by mc32 4y ago

lamontcg 4y ago

Who is "celebrating"? The markets are down 3% so far today.

sbelskie 4y ago

Given that CPI was flat last month, I’m curious what you mean by 27th straight month?

abduhl 4y ago
I'm also confused by the OP. CPI has been above the Fed's 2% target since roughly the start of 2021, so even by that metric ("above 2% means a month of inflation") the OP seems off. I'm not really sure what it means to be a "month of inflation" honestly, inflation is always occurring in the US by design (and when it isn't there is usually a large global calamity taking place causing deflation). See https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPILFESL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPILFESL or https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=rocU https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=rocU

robotcapital 4y ago

> Instead allow students to declare bankruptcy on student debt. I'm curious what impact people think this would have. Or if there's any research on the subject. My initial reaction was that giving out more debt relief could only lead to more inflation. But on second thought I could see only a much smaller segment that is struggling with debt willing to go through bankruptcy. While I buy that that would be less regressive than the current proposed debt forgiveness plan, I don't see how this would affect inflation (or elections, for that matter) in any meaningful way.

mc32 4y ago
Colleges and universities would hold the bag and would be more judicious about the prospects they’re willing to bet on. Right now they know they don’t lose.
- gausswho 4y ago
  The majority of student loans are structured such that the US government makes whole any lender who has a student loan in default. It's argued by some that this incentivizes colleges to relentlessly raise tuition. They win either way.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    This is not true. The Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 removed government guarantees for non government student loans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Care_and_Education_Reconciliation_Act_of_2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Care_and_Education_Reco... > Ending the process of the federal government giving subsidies to private banks to give out federally insured loans. Instead loans will be administered directly by the Department of Education.[23] Or course, the problem was and is the taxpayer funded loans with zero underwriting, so the root issue was never resolved, and hence why colleges continue to raise tuition since their customers continue to receive blank checks from the government. There should be zero taxpayer funded higher education loans. If the people want to help students pay for education, then give them cash or give cash to the universities. The reason this is not politically popular is that it increases government expenses, rather than loans that muddy the higher education market and ultimately screw students and future taxpayers. But excessively borrowing from the future to keep taxes down today and indebt certain portions of the population rather than providing non discriminatory assistance is par for the course.