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What suddenly changed in 2021? Why didn't they just do this earlier? They just never realized they could be wise prices?

danaris 3y ago
You might have noticed that we had something rather significant going on during that time—a global pandemic? With major associated economic, logistical, and personal disruptions? For more elaboration on this, see my related comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38569714 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38569714
- Manuel_D 3y ago
  My point exactly: the pandemic and associated events (namely, supply chain issues and massive influx of money) led to the price increases. Not "greedflation".
  - danaris 3y ago
    No; as I explained in the linked post, they changed the conditions, which allowed the companies to continue raising prices (and refuse to lower them) even long after the actual supply shocks were over. ...Alongside the other, more gradual changes, which (as I explained in the linked post) weren't fully noticed or appreciated until the shocks of the pandemic. Really, I explained the full sequence of events very clearly in the linked post, and simply repeating "it was just the supply chain issues, no greed involved" does nothing whatsoever to refute what I said there.
    - Manuel_D 3y ago
      What conditions? Your post ultimately does boil down to "companies realized that they can just raise prices and make more money". Completely absent from this narrative is a reason why they couldn't have raised prices earlier. Of course there are reasons why: the supply shocks during the pandemic are largely resolved, but there's still pent up demand. That, and a massive influx of cash that enabled consumers to pay those high prices. But this isn't "greedflation" this is a completely expected outcome of interrupted production and a large increase in money supply: more money to spend, but fewer things to buy, leading to high prices.

danaris 3y ago

You might have noticed that we had something rather significant going on during that time—a global pandemic? With major associated economic, logistical, and personal disruptions? For more elaboration on this, see my related comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38569714 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38569714

Manuel_D 3y ago
My point exactly: the pandemic and associated events (namely, supply chain issues and massive influx of money) led to the price increases. Not "greedflation".
- danaris 3y ago
  No; as I explained in the linked post, they changed the conditions, which allowed the companies to continue raising prices (and refuse to lower them) even long after the actual supply shocks were over. ...Alongside the other, more gradual changes, which (as I explained in the linked post) weren't fully noticed or appreciated until the shocks of the pandemic. Really, I explained the full sequence of events very clearly in the linked post, and simply repeating "it was just the supply chain issues, no greed involved" does nothing whatsoever to refute what I said there.
  - Manuel_D 3y ago
    What conditions? Your post ultimately does boil down to "companies realized that they can just raise prices and make more money". Completely absent from this narrative is a reason why they couldn't have raised prices earlier. Of course there are reasons why: the supply shocks during the pandemic are largely resolved, but there's still pent up demand. That, and a massive influx of cash that enabled consumers to pay those high prices. But this isn't "greedflation" this is a completely expected outcome of interrupted production and a large increase in money supply: more money to spend, but fewer things to buy, leading to high prices.