U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May

Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by sfe22 on Friday June 10, 2022 @12:52PM (#31696615)

Deflation being much much worse is a nice joke. You telling me that if gas and food and rent lowered in price over time, I will be worse off? Stuff are supposed to become cheaper as technology advances yet we only either get high or low price increases, all to fund the rich in the government.

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by spamizbad on Friday June 10, 2022 @02:30PM (#31697741)

> Deflation being much much worse is a nice joke.

Deflation is more of a nightmare than a joke. It basically means the economy has significantly contracted and that wages are going to plummet across the board. This leads to a massive spike in debt defaults.

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by sfe22 on Friday June 10, 2022 @02:36PM (#31697816)

Yeah, but not any economy, to be a nightmare requires a nightmarish economy.

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by credit_guy on Friday June 10, 2022 @05:27PM (#31699549)

Deflation is never a problem in a fiat money economy. You can print your way out of a deflation.

In the 19th century and in 1929 currencies were pegged to gold, so you could not just print money. All periods of economic crisis were deflationary, and the central banks did not have a lot of tools to fight that. That’s the origin of the idea that deflation is worse than inflation. This is just bogus nowadays.

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by ramblenode on Friday June 10, 2022 @03:48PM (#31698630)

To what extent is the risk due to a society built on debt?

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by version_five on Friday June 10, 2022 @04:31PM (#31699050)

It's completely due to that, but so is the fact that we can have nice things.

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by rufus_foreman on Friday June 10, 2022 @01:47PM (#31697259)

>> You telling me that if gas and food and rent lowered in price over time, I will be worse off?

If you have debt, you will be worse off. Wages get lowered over time, too. Imagine your salary gets cut year after year but your mortgage, car payment, and student loan payment all stay the same. That's deflation.

In the same way that unexpected inflation is good for borrowers (since they get to pay back a loan with cheaper money) unexpected deflation is bad for borrowers (since they have to pay back a loan with more expensive money).

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by sfe22 on Friday June 10, 2022 @02:24PM (#31697665)

Yeah, but guess who encourages debt.

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by scotuswroteus on Friday June 10, 2022 @01:05PM (#31696794)

'Stuff' should be plural, I agree

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by sfe22 on Friday June 10, 2022 @02:37PM (#31697840)

Felt off, but went with it. Looks like I made a new friend too xD.

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by hungryhobo on Friday June 10, 2022 @03:02PM (#31698134)

what if your income is also lowered over time?

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Re:U.S. inflation reached a new four-decade high of 8.6% in May by sfe22 on Friday June 10, 2022 @04:08PM (#31698844)

Thats also fine, especially if priced drop more. But even in a sane economy I would expect most would get raises as they work faster and better, even as prices fall.

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