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prices never returned to pre-covid levels, as everyone claimed they would No one who knows anything about economics or inflation claimed that prices would retu

prices never returned to pre-covid levels, as everyone claimed they would No one who knows anything about economics or inflation claimed that prices would return to their pre-covid levels. However, inflation has gone way down from its peak.

dgfitz 2y ago
Didn't basically everything go up but wages? So we inflated the cost of things by what, 15% or more over the past few years, wages didn't follow. All the savings and free money people had are gone now, it took a while. I don't care if we blame the current economic policy, I don't like the current economic policy at all. I think the problem is much bigger than that. I still would like to know where all that money went. I can't figure that out.
- arrrg 2y ago
  US post pandemic economic recovery has been astonishingly great measured against other major economies. Obviously (real) wages did take a hit like everywhere but have been recovering, too. My working theory is that noticeable inflations makes people go crazy and trumps anything else. Completely closes people off to rational thought and that’s what sunk Biden. Despite awesome economic recovery given the circumstances.
  - dgfitz 2y ago
    My working theory is that this is a gigantic misnomer: > US post pandemic economic recovery has been astonishingly great measured against other major economies.
- dfxm12 2y ago
  You almost answered your own question. The price of things went up, and they went up along with profits. The money went back to the firms who raised prices. It's greedflation. https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2025/04/25/why-corporate-profits-have-rocketed-upward-since-the-covid-19-pandemic/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2025/04/25/why-corp...
  - dgfitz 2y ago
    So how do we fix that? I get Covid was a mess in real time and it was used as a political pawn, which really sucks. Trillions of dollars went into the US economy, and most of the country feels broke. I don’t care how the market did, fuck the market, it’s a bubble that’s been waiting to pop for years.
    - dfxm12 2y ago
      One thing we can do is raise taxes on the rich and large businesses and corporations. This action is supported by a majority of Americans: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/19/most-americans-continue-to-favor-raising-taxes-on-corporations-higher-income-households/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/19/most-amer...
    - coldpie 2y ago
      Wealth tax. Progressive wealth tax that caps at a 100% tax on wealth over $10M. Exact number negotiable, but that's where I'm starting the bidding. No individual has a legitimate use for more than $10M in assets.
- marcosdumay 2y ago
  > Didn't basically everything go up but wages? That's how inflation works. > I don't care if we blame the current economic policy You mean the previous one until January, that stopped the inflation, or the current one that is making a lot of it for the next months? > I still would like to know where all that money went. The money is cycling around people and companies. That's what money almost always do, the US was an exception until recently, but exceptions to that never last.
  - dgfitz 2y ago
    > The money is cycling around people and companies. That's what money almost always do, the US was an exception until recently, but exceptions to that never last. It is? Why have wages been so stagnant for so long? Isn't that one of the leading theories/reasons Trump was elected, people are completely strapped for cash. I had read recently that loans are being increasingly being paid late, credit card debt has grown massively, home prices and through the roof, and the job market is a disaster. Where is all that money again?
BizarroLand 2y ago
Inflation is a description of how fast prices increase. Prices on goods used to stay relatively static for months or years at a time, and sometimes even trended downwards. Prices have basically only gone up on almost everything for the past 5 years. Going up slower does little good.
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  > Prices on goods used to stay relatively static for months or years at a time, and sometimes even trended downwards. Prices have basically only gone up on almost everything for the past 5 years No, consumer prices trending downward is called deflation and the economy has been actively managed to try to prevent that for a very long time. Mild inflation has been the target and rule for a very long time, with the deviations being high inflation outside of a few major economic collapses. This is not a new trend of the last 5 years.
  - BizarroLand 2y ago
    I think you misunderstand. Prices on some things trend downward without inflation as the products become cheaper to manufacture and distribute due to process improvements and economy of scale. Take, for instance, flat screen tvs. The first 42" flat screen TV, released in 1997, cost $18,750, or the equivalent of $37,201 in today's money. https://www.wgal.com/article/evolution-of-tv-technology-price-inflation/63011747 https://www.wgal.com/article/evolution-of-tv-technology-pric... The least expensive 42" (technically 43") tv available at Bestbuy today is on sale for $113.99, or the equivalent of $57.21 in 1997 money. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hisense-43-class-a6-series-led-4k-uhd-smart-google-tv-2024/6579762.p?skuId=6579762 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hisense-43-class-a6-series-led-... Obviously this is not an apples to apple comparison, its a clarification that on some goods prices decrease regardless of inflation due to forces outside of the relative value of a dollar.

dgfitz 2y ago

Didn't basically everything go up but wages? So we inflated the cost of things by what, 15% or more over the past few years, wages didn't follow. All the savings and free money people had are gone now, it took a while. I don't care if we blame the current economic policy, I don't like the current economic policy at all. I think the problem is much bigger than that. I still would like to know where all that money went. I can't figure that out.

arrrg 2y ago
US post pandemic economic recovery has been astonishingly great measured against other major economies. Obviously (real) wages did take a hit like everywhere but have been recovering, too. My working theory is that noticeable inflations makes people go crazy and trumps anything else. Completely closes people off to rational thought and that’s what sunk Biden. Despite awesome economic recovery given the circumstances.
- dgfitz 2y ago
  My working theory is that this is a gigantic misnomer: > US post pandemic economic recovery has been astonishingly great measured against other major economies.
dfxm12 2y ago
You almost answered your own question. The price of things went up, and they went up along with profits. The money went back to the firms who raised prices. It's greedflation. https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2025/04/25/why-corporate-profits-have-rocketed-upward-since-the-covid-19-pandemic/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2025/04/25/why-corp...
- dgfitz 2y ago
  So how do we fix that? I get Covid was a mess in real time and it was used as a political pawn, which really sucks. Trillions of dollars went into the US economy, and most of the country feels broke. I don’t care how the market did, fuck the market, it’s a bubble that’s been waiting to pop for years.
  - dfxm12 2y ago
    One thing we can do is raise taxes on the rich and large businesses and corporations. This action is supported by a majority of Americans: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/19/most-americans-continue-to-favor-raising-taxes-on-corporations-higher-income-households/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/19/most-amer...
  - coldpie 2y ago
    Wealth tax. Progressive wealth tax that caps at a 100% tax on wealth over $10M. Exact number negotiable, but that's where I'm starting the bidding. No individual has a legitimate use for more than $10M in assets.
marcosdumay 2y ago
> Didn't basically everything go up but wages? That's how inflation works. > I don't care if we blame the current economic policy You mean the previous one until January, that stopped the inflation, or the current one that is making a lot of it for the next months? > I still would like to know where all that money went. The money is cycling around people and companies. That's what money almost always do, the US was an exception until recently, but exceptions to that never last.
- dgfitz 2y ago
  > The money is cycling around people and companies. That's what money almost always do, the US was an exception until recently, but exceptions to that never last. It is? Why have wages been so stagnant for so long? Isn't that one of the leading theories/reasons Trump was elected, people are completely strapped for cash. I had read recently that loans are being increasingly being paid late, credit card debt has grown massively, home prices and through the roof, and the job market is a disaster. Where is all that money again?

BizarroLand 2y ago

Inflation is a description of how fast prices increase. Prices on goods used to stay relatively static for months or years at a time, and sometimes even trended downwards. Prices have basically only gone up on almost everything for the past 5 years. Going up slower does little good.

dragonwriter 2y ago
> Prices on goods used to stay relatively static for months or years at a time, and sometimes even trended downwards. Prices have basically only gone up on almost everything for the past 5 years No, consumer prices trending downward is called deflation and the economy has been actively managed to try to prevent that for a very long time. Mild inflation has been the target and rule for a very long time, with the deviations being high inflation outside of a few major economic collapses. This is not a new trend of the last 5 years.
- BizarroLand 2y ago
  I think you misunderstand. Prices on some things trend downward without inflation as the products become cheaper to manufacture and distribute due to process improvements and economy of scale. Take, for instance, flat screen tvs. The first 42" flat screen TV, released in 1997, cost $18,750, or the equivalent of $37,201 in today's money. https://www.wgal.com/article/evolution-of-tv-technology-price-inflation/63011747 https://www.wgal.com/article/evolution-of-tv-technology-pric... The least expensive 42" (technically 43") tv available at Bestbuy today is on sale for $113.99, or the equivalent of $57.21 in 1997 money. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hisense-43-class-a6-series-led-4k-uhd-smart-google-tv-2024/6579762.p?skuId=6579762 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hisense-43-class-a6-series-led-... Obviously this is not an apples to apple comparison, its a clarification that on some goods prices decrease regardless of inflation due to forces outside of the relative value of a dollar.