• uphillbothways@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    91
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    “But deflation can hurt economic growth, as consumers will delay purchasing products if they think they will be cheaper in future.”
    Not if people are already mostly only buying what they need to survive.

    • freagle@lemmygrad.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      40
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      LOL. “I think I’ll starve because I bet I can save 3.5% on food prices in a month”

      • Tony Smehrik@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        16
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        They’re talking about durable goods. You’re not going to upgrade a refrigerator if it’s still working and you know it’s eventually going to break but it hasn’t quite broken yet, especially if the price of new refrigerators is still dropping.

        • gnuhaut@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          I mean, if it discourages people from buying new fridges when their old one still works that’s good actually. A fridge that gets thrown out is just a waste, it’s only due to braindead capitalist logic that this looks like growth.

        • eskimofry@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Why don’t you want a smaller market for fridges? It’s essential product, but sustainable business if you can sustain yourself by providing services and repairs

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

      Which is not the case for most people and certainly not the case for businesses and banks.

      • Policeshootout@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        20
        ·
        1 year ago

        You’re being downvoted but the amount of people I see in my work and personal life that barely make ends meet but are buying garbage on Amazon constantly is staggering. Prime days especially I was shaking my head at people bragging about the deals they got.

        • w2qw@aussie.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          I don’t even think you need to go to that. The vast majority of spending is discretionary. Is Jeff Bezos new yacht an essential? Deflation is particular bad for workers because it means less investment and lower salaries for those with a mortgage that’s even worse. The people that benefit are those with huge stockpiles of cash.

          This only really applies if it isn’t just temporary though. It’s also pretty for central banks to fix.

          • iegod@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Huge stockpiles of cash seems a rather useful thing in all situations, to be fair.

            • w2qw@aussie.zone
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Individually sure but as a society we want investment into productivity stuff rather than just increasing bank accounts.

          • eskimofry@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            So this economy was design to feed dragons, and then depend on those dragons spending money for the majority of people to even survive.

            • w2qw@aussie.zone
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              They don’t need to spend money but you want them to have to invest money and not just profit by keeping their money in cash.