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In my experience, service sector working class people generally have no savings due to low wages and high cost of housing. I think it's not that people view sav

In my experience, service sector working class people generally have no savings due to low wages and high cost of housing. I think it's not that people view saving as immoral; rather they view it as a class indicator. It appears that if the lower class starts seeing wage increases, then our economy falls apart and/or the Fed steps in to stop it. That suggests that our economy is broken with respect to the lower class.

PragmaticPulp 4y ago
> In my experience, service sector working class people generally have no savings due to low wages and high cost of housing. Statistically, a lot of middle class people save their wealth in their houses, which are bought via mortgages. Inflation benefits those people significantly by raising the value of their house and making their 30-year fixed mortgages (in the US) easier to pay off. It's not so great for people in other countries with variable rate mortgages, though.
- harimau777 4y ago
  I agree that's the case for people who own homes. However, many (most?) lower class people do not own homes. Even the lower side of middle class can't afford homes in much of the country.
refurb 4y ago
No, what happens is wage pressure translates into higher input costs and higher prices thus fueling inflation. And that hurts low wage workers because any wage increase gets eaten up by inflation and cycle continues. If we were in a low inflation environment then the fed wouldnt be concerned about low unemployment and rising wages at all.
- harimau777 4y ago
  I don't think that's different than what I said. Wages started increasing and the economy started to fall apart prompting the Fed to step in. That means that the system is broken. There is no way for the lower class to get ahead. If they make higher wages then prices will simply increase so that they aren't actually ahead.
  - refurb 4y ago
    Of course there are ways for the lower class to get ahead - economic growth without high inflation. Like I said in another comment, if wages were going up in a low inflation environment, the fed wouldn't be concerned at all.

PragmaticPulp 4y ago

> In my experience, service sector working class people generally have no savings due to low wages and high cost of housing. Statistically, a lot of middle class people save their wealth in their houses, which are bought via mortgages. Inflation benefits those people significantly by raising the value of their house and making their 30-year fixed mortgages (in the US) easier to pay off. It's not so great for people in other countries with variable rate mortgages, though.

harimau777 4y ago
I agree that's the case for people who own homes. However, many (most?) lower class people do not own homes. Even the lower side of middle class can't afford homes in much of the country.

refurb 4y ago

No, what happens is wage pressure translates into higher input costs and higher prices thus fueling inflation. And that hurts low wage workers because any wage increase gets eaten up by inflation and cycle continues. If we were in a low inflation environment then the fed wouldnt be concerned about low unemployment and rising wages at all.

harimau777 4y ago
I don't think that's different than what I said. Wages started increasing and the economy started to fall apart prompting the Fed to step in. That means that the system is broken. There is no way for the lower class to get ahead. If they make higher wages then prices will simply increase so that they aren't actually ahead.
- refurb 4y ago
  Of course there are ways for the lower class to get ahead - economic growth without high inflation. Like I said in another comment, if wages were going up in a low inflation environment, the fed wouldn't be concerned at all.