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The problem is some how a large swath of the general public thinks that lower inflation means lower prices. That obviously doesn’t math.

by TylerE 2y ago

kelipso 2y ago
Inflation can be addressed when my salary goes up the same ratio as perceived inflation lol. And perceived inflation over the last two years is like 50%, and that's being conservative.
- ajross 2y ago
  > Inflation can be addressed when my salary goes up the same ratio as perceived inflation lol. Has it not? Mine has. Wages as a whole have. In fact wage growth has been historically robust for the last decade or so. Here's a FRED graph for "median usual weekly real[1] earnings", which correlates well to the kind of working class argument people usually make in this space: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q Note how it has been going inexorably upwards since 2014 or so, and in fact the inflation burst turns out to be the correction to a very rapid spike in wages (due to pandemic assistance) that only corrects downward to the upward curve. I really wish people who wanted to argue about inflation would do it with more numbers and less "lol". [1] "Real" means "inflation adjusted" in this context
  - kelipso 2y ago
    Lol. You have, what, a 12% increase in salary according to that chart (followed by around 5% dropoff lol) compared to more than 50% perceived inflation. I don't think I need to make any more arguments after that.
    - ajross 2y ago
      I called it out specifically to avoid the mistake, but I think you skipped the footnote. You're misreading the chart. The numbers there are already corrected for CPI. An upwards slope represents higher wealth, independent of inflation. Lol, indeed. This is sort of what I was complaining about. Please, please try to get stuff right before arguing about it on the internet. Economic statistics are extremely well-tabluated and easy to find.
      - kelipso 2y ago
        Official numbers for inflation vs actual inflation vs perceived inflation are very different numbers lol. Actual inflation and perceived inflation are much closer together and the official numbers are basically cooked up so people don't freak out. A 10% addition to my previous comment doesn't make a big difference to how people feel about the economy and inflation.
        ajross 2y ago
        What on earth is "perceived inflation"? That's not a thing. You're literally making up a fake statistic because the real one doesn't support your incorrect-but-strongly-held intuition!
        kelipso 2y ago
        It's inflation as perceived by the average person, basically increases in daily expenditure on required goods and services like food, gas, utilities, rent or mortgage. Have you even been reading what I wrote or are you just spouting shit you copy pasted from somewhere else?
        ajross 2y ago
        > are you just spouting shit you copy pasted from somewhere else? I'm literally linking to FRED charts trying to have a numerate discussion about this stuff... Can you cite some research or measurements or anything about this "perceived inflation" metric you're talking about? Like, where are the numbers? I'm pretty sure you just made it up, no?
        kelipso 2y ago
        I'm not linking to numbers lol. I already know how much more I'm paying for groceries. I talked about perceived inflation from the beginning and you are just now talking about it? You haven't responded to anything I wrote. I am pretty sure you just read the word inflation and started some pre-written rant. Either that or you are severely lacking in reading comprehension. Just linking a bunch of numbers does not make an argument. You have to actually talk and respond to the actual topic being discussed.

The problem is some how a large swath of the general public thinks that lower inflation means lower prices. That obviously doesn’t math.

by TylerE 2y ago

The problem is some how a large swath of the general public thinks that lower inflation means lower prices. That obviously doesn’t math.

kelipso 2y ago

Inflation can be addressed when my salary goes up the same ratio as perceived inflation lol. And perceived inflation over the last two years is like 50%, and that's being conservative.

ajross 2y ago
> Inflation can be addressed when my salary goes up the same ratio as perceived inflation lol. Has it not? Mine has. Wages as a whole have. In fact wage growth has been historically robust for the last decade or so. Here's a FRED graph for "median usual weekly real[1] earnings", which correlates well to the kind of working class argument people usually make in this space: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q Note how it has been going inexorably upwards since 2014 or so, and in fact the inflation burst turns out to be the correction to a very rapid spike in wages (due to pandemic assistance) that only corrects downward to the upward curve. I really wish people who wanted to argue about inflation would do it with more numbers and less "lol". [1] "Real" means "inflation adjusted" in this context
- kelipso 2y ago
  Lol. You have, what, a 12% increase in salary according to that chart (followed by around 5% dropoff lol) compared to more than 50% perceived inflation. I don't think I need to make any more arguments after that.
  - ajross 2y ago
    I called it out specifically to avoid the mistake, but I think you skipped the footnote. You're misreading the chart. The numbers there are already corrected for CPI. An upwards slope represents higher wealth, independent of inflation. Lol, indeed. This is sort of what I was complaining about. Please, please try to get stuff right before arguing about it on the internet. Economic statistics are extremely well-tabluated and easy to find.
    - kelipso 2y ago
      Official numbers for inflation vs actual inflation vs perceived inflation are very different numbers lol. Actual inflation and perceived inflation are much closer together and the official numbers are basically cooked up so people don't freak out. A 10% addition to my previous comment doesn't make a big difference to how people feel about the economy and inflation.
      - ajross 2y ago
        What on earth is "perceived inflation"? That's not a thing. You're literally making up a fake statistic because the real one doesn't support your incorrect-but-strongly-held intuition!
        kelipso 2y ago
        It's inflation as perceived by the average person, basically increases in daily expenditure on required goods and services like food, gas, utilities, rent or mortgage. Have you even been reading what I wrote or are you just spouting shit you copy pasted from somewhere else?
        ajross 2y ago
        > are you just spouting shit you copy pasted from somewhere else? I'm literally linking to FRED charts trying to have a numerate discussion about this stuff... Can you cite some research or measurements or anything about this "perceived inflation" metric you're talking about? Like, where are the numbers? I'm pretty sure you just made it up, no?
        kelipso 2y ago
        I'm not linking to numbers lol. I already know how much more I'm paying for groceries. I talked about perceived inflation from the beginning and you are just now talking about it? You haven't responded to anything I wrote. I am pretty sure you just read the word inflation and started some pre-written rant. Either that or you are severely lacking in reading comprehension. Just linking a bunch of numbers does not make an argument. You have to actually talk and respond to the actual topic being discussed.