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(1) It doesn't matter if the economy will be subject to deflation in future, right now it is not, and while later in this thread you talk about 2nd derivatives
by olliej 3y ago
(1) It doesn't matter if the economy will be subject to deflation in future, right now it is not, and while later in this thread you talk about 2nd derivatives being negative that just means the rate growth of inflation is dropping, not inflation itself, so excusing below inflation compensation changes is BS.
(2) If/when deflation does occur, we know from prior instances the reduction in worker compensation is much higher than the rate of deflation.
I don't get this attempt to represent below inflation compensation changes as ok because one day in future some economic change will make this years actions "reasonable", because that is assuming that this year is a one off, rather than recurring. It also presumes that wages won't be cut even more when deflation occurs (generally by mass layoffs and then rehiring the now unemployed when their choices have been reduced to "homeless vs lowered pay").
We also know that businesses don't actually foresee a problem with deflation as they're still happily giving mass payouts and wage increases to their executive management, performing stock buy backs, and issuing large dividends. If companies were actually legitimately concerned about the potential for a deflationary event they would be hoarding cash.
- jollyllama 3y ago>If companies were actually legitimately concerned about the potential for a deflationary event they would be hoarding cash. Or freezing salaries. Just like in the article. I don't really have an answer for you with regards to any stock buybacks or large dividends. I'm not talking about anything as reasonable or mentioning the 2nd derivative myself. M2 money supply is a specific thing that is responsible for money creation, it's going down now for the first time ever. We are in uncharted territory.