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A growing economy increases standards of living. The fact that a t-shirt costs $10 now that used to cost $20 10 years ago means that people now have more option
by a_c_s 13y ago
A growing economy increases standards of living. The fact that a t-shirt costs $10 now that used to cost $20 10 years ago means that people now have more options.
Some people will choose to buy 2x as many t-shirts, making them (roughly) 2x happier. Or some people will buy the same number of t-shirts and have extra money to do other things they want. And most importantly, some people who couldn't afford t-shirts now can. But nobody is forced to chase material goods, they buy what they choose to.
The fact that this process is replicated across virtually all products in the economy is what lifts people out of poverty. We still have plenty of people struggling to make ends meet in the USA, something like half of all people live paycheck-to-paycheck.
The only people who benefit from deflation are those with large amounts of capital and no debt, which is an incredibly small portion of the population that isn't struggling under the current system of low inflation.
- darkFunction 13y agoWe consume too much and we work too hard to fill our lives with vacuous material goods. Look around you, it's pure madness. It's out of control, everybody is permanently dissatisfied and we continue to rape the planet to fill a hole in our lives that can never be filled. I used to worry about this aspect of bitcoin but now I just think, let it happen. Maybe a world in which we aren't forced to consume just to keep our net worth wouldn't be so bad. Maybe we don't need investment in yet another company selling more useless crap we don't need. Maybe we don't need to work five days a week to be happy. > Some people will choose to buy 2x as many t-shirts, making them (roughly) 2x happier More choice has been proven to lead to greater dissatisfaction. Aside from better healthcare I don't think our modern world makes us any more happy and fulfilled.
- tg3 13y agoIt's easy to be nostalgic about past times, but the fact is that quality of life, by many measures (including but not limited to healthcare) has been improved. Intentionally slowing economic growth is a cruel sentence for those less fortunate than yourself so that you can be "happy".
- dualogy 13y ago> A growing economy increases standards of living. The fact that a t-shirt costs $10 now that used to cost $20 10 years ago So what you're saying is that inflation leads to deflation -- did I get that right?
- andrewfong 13y agoI think the above was referring to dollar amounts in real terms, not inflation or deflation-adjusted -- i.e. deflation will result in both less nominal and less real growth.
- anonymoushn 13y agoIt's nothing that complex. a_c_s has just suggested that inflation (the rising price of goods relative to the dollar) is good because it allows one to buy more with the same money (the falling price of goods relative to the dollar, not to be confused with deflation, which would of course only benefit the rich).