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Americans are too expensive.

ThunderSizzle 2y ago
You can blame inflation for part of that. The value of a dollar is near nothing compared to even 5 years ago. And of course you need a higher salary when everyone charges you more just for being in the US. See YouTube premium pricing around the globe as an easy example.
- DSingularity 2y ago
  Near nothing? You sure about this?
  - ThunderSizzle 2y ago
    At the very last, it's devalued by more than half, and this is a national trend in the housing market alone. You can also observe this in dining out (either sit down or fast food), groceries, tools, etc. And yes, a pre-2021 dollar losing half of its worth in less than a couple of years is "near nothing". That means the dollar is a terrible store of value, and an entire net value stored in dollars would disappear inside half a lifetime, if not faster if Congress does another mass printing/borrowing of money. As an anecdote example: * Pre-2021, my house was 160k, with about 10% down, resulting in P&I of about $750. * Post-2021 (and no significant change since, the same house can probably sell for near $320 (& definitely $290 at the low end). To buy this, you'll need twice the down payment, and even with 10% down, your P&I is now nearly $2000 (due to the higher interest rates and huge principal). A dollar in 2018 is worth 2.67x more than a dollar today. It's pretty apparent in equities, but also in commodities, and there's no going back to pre-2021 monetary values. "Inflation" may or may not have slowed down, but a lot of people are now stuck until deflation actually occurs or significant salary growth occurs.
- smallmancontrov 2y ago
  The US economy pumps assets and dumps exports, yes. However, weakening the dollar would dump assets and pump exports. That's the opposite of what the US has been up to for the last 50 years and it's the opposite of what the US is up to today. Your understanding of macroeconomics needs work. Hint: if your analysis does not involve US counterparties, it can only ever be correct by accident.
- adolph 2y ago
  >> Americans are too expensive. > You can blame inflation for part of that. How so? As you acknowledged, number go up internally doesn't mean number doesn't go down relative to other currency, leaving relative expensiveness the same.
- mattgrice 2y ago
  yen an pound are at historic lows vs dollar. Dollar vs euro is at historic average. Let me guess, you'an Austrian/freshwater econ fan. Know theres a problem and what it is before you see the patient.
SrslyJosh 2y ago
America is too expensive. The entire economy has been shifting away from creating new useful things and towards what I think of as extraction. A couple examples: - Car companies paywalling hardware and software features while selling data (including GPS location, speed, etc.) to data brokers. - Netflix raising subscription fees in spite of the fact that they've cancelled so many original shows and lost so much of their leased catalog. - Grocery stores and fast food restaurants firing cashiers and replacing them with unreliable self-checkout kiosks (pushing the work off onto the customer while continuing to charge them just as much, if not more). - Wendy's adding "surge pricing" and replacing drive-through workers with an AI that's barely 80% accurate. (So they'll charge you more just because and still fuck up your order.) There are other examples, these are just the ones that are fresh in my mind right now.
- rickydroll 2y ago
  > towards what I think of as extraction. It is called rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking FTA: Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth.[1] Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality,[2][3] risk of growing political bribery, and potential national decline. Successful capture of regulatory agencies (if any) to gain a coercive monopoly can result in advantages for rent-seekers in a market while imposing disadvantages on their uncorrupt competitors. This is one of many possible forms of rent-seeking behavior.
- CatWChainsaw 2y ago
  HP printer ink..
huhuhu111 2y ago
[dead]

You can blame inflation for part of that. The value of a dollar is near nothing compared to even 5 years ago. And of course you need a higher salary when everyone charges you more just for being in the US. See YouTube premium pricing around the globe as an easy example.

DSingularity 2y ago
Near nothing? You sure about this?
- ThunderSizzle 2y ago
  At the very last, it's devalued by more than half, and this is a national trend in the housing market alone. You can also observe this in dining out (either sit down or fast food), groceries, tools, etc. And yes, a pre-2021 dollar losing half of its worth in less than a couple of years is "near nothing". That means the dollar is a terrible store of value, and an entire net value stored in dollars would disappear inside half a lifetime, if not faster if Congress does another mass printing/borrowing of money. As an anecdote example: * Pre-2021, my house was 160k, with about 10% down, resulting in P&I of about $750. * Post-2021 (and no significant change since, the same house can probably sell for near $320 (& definitely $290 at the low end). To buy this, you'll need twice the down payment, and even with 10% down, your P&I is now nearly $2000 (due to the higher interest rates and huge principal). A dollar in 2018 is worth 2.67x more than a dollar today. It's pretty apparent in equities, but also in commodities, and there's no going back to pre-2021 monetary values. "Inflation" may or may not have slowed down, but a lot of people are now stuck until deflation actually occurs or significant salary growth occurs.
smallmancontrov 2y ago
The US economy pumps assets and dumps exports, yes. However, weakening the dollar would dump assets and pump exports. That's the opposite of what the US has been up to for the last 50 years and it's the opposite of what the US is up to today. Your understanding of macroeconomics needs work. Hint: if your analysis does not involve US counterparties, it can only ever be correct by accident.
adolph 2y ago
>> Americans are too expensive. > You can blame inflation for part of that. How so? As you acknowledged, number go up internally doesn't mean number doesn't go down relative to other currency, leaving relative expensiveness the same.
mattgrice 2y ago
yen an pound are at historic lows vs dollar. Dollar vs euro is at historic average. Let me guess, you'an Austrian/freshwater econ fan. Know theres a problem and what it is before you see the patient.

SrslyJosh 2y ago

America is too expensive. The entire economy has been shifting away from creating new useful things and towards what I think of as extraction. A couple examples: - Car companies paywalling hardware and software features while selling data (including GPS location, speed, etc.) to data brokers. - Netflix raising subscription fees in spite of the fact that they've cancelled so many original shows and lost so much of their leased catalog. - Grocery stores and fast food restaurants firing cashiers and replacing them with unreliable self-checkout kiosks (pushing the work off onto the customer while continuing to charge them just as much, if not more). - Wendy's adding "surge pricing" and replacing drive-through workers with an AI that's barely 80% accurate. (So they'll charge you more just because and still fuck up your order.) There are other examples, these are just the ones that are fresh in my mind right now.

rickydroll 2y ago
> towards what I think of as extraction. It is called rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking FTA: Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth.[1] Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality,[2][3] risk of growing political bribery, and potential national decline. Successful capture of regulatory agencies (if any) to gain a coercive monopoly can result in advantages for rent-seekers in a market while imposing disadvantages on their uncorrupt competitors. This is one of many possible forms of rent-seeking behavior.
CatWChainsaw 2y ago
HP printer ink..

huhuhu111 2y ago

[dead]