AngrySkillzz

8 ms·

1.
by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
> Sounds good. Aight chief I'm out. Glad we have agreed that 25% unemployment is a good thing. You sure are concerned about those working class people trying to feed their families! I am in awe of your superior economic knowledge an
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
it was a joke...
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
> It decreases the value of the money use to pay for them That is meaningless, though. Imagine last year you bought some asset, that someone else did not, and it appreciated 2% with the price level. You are not any better off. I see you
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
"Low, stable inflation increases inequality" is not a statement that you could find much agreement on from economists. Also, Krugman is just a pop-econ writer at this point. He is not a big deal in the economics profession. Yes, I
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
> people who benefit most have both assets and debt. These are wealthy people Generally you have to have more assets than debt to be considered "wealthy." This is why the word "net" is important in the parent comment.
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
You are purposefully ignoring the normal explanation, which is this: because wages are sticky, firms that need to cut costs in a recession are more likely to lay off people than they are to give pay cuts. Inflation helps to weaken that rigi
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Thanks, I am glad someone else actually has the energy to explain this.
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
> Depreciating currency causes those assets to go up in nominal terms That does not increase the real value of those assets, and it does not have any distributional consequences. > Thats a theory-laden and motivated explanation You co
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
It is strange, but I think it makes sense culturally. HN grew out of that particular libertarian, anti-establishment "hacker" subculture, where it is very common to believe that the government and etc. is out to screw you. Rather
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
> Only because the wealthy benefit from depreciating currency Source this claim. Everyone benefits from a depreciating currency because inflation provides a buffer against deflationary spirals that lead to large recessions and job losses
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Hi yes I know quite a bit about sticky wages and inflation. What's your point.
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Sadly it isn't really worth arguing econ on HN. This place is full of cranks when it comes to that, unfortunately. Maybe better if we all just stick to programming.
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
It is tricky, but they try to apply what are called "hedonic adjustments." [1] If a new iPhone comes out that is way better than last year's iPhone, but it is the same price, then that's deflation! You got more stuff for
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Yeah, people on HN are kind of cranks about this sort of thing
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
The root cause is demographics. People have a standard life cycle - you save when you are young, peak saving around a decade before retirement, and then spend savings in retirement. What is different now is that China has a massive boom in
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
That's not how employment works. There is a certain amount of natural unemployment even in a full employment economy: this is called "frictional unemployment." Like, you just moved or quit your job or got laid off and are loo
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
I'll take the other side of that argument. It's an interesting article! But it doesn't make me think that the numbers are "rigged," just that they have been misinterpreted. Semiconductors are getting way better, and
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
It's possible. You are right that productivity growth is the big driver behind everything. There are some people that make the argument that massive growth is behind us, that the internet revolution is not the same kind of game-changer
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
From a programmer's perspective, you are right that there are no technical barriers to constructing an arbitrary index that delivers whatever value of inflation you want. But of course that is the case for most human things. Which is
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Though I will say, asset prices are not determined directly by central bank actions, there is a third component that pushes both asset prices and central bank policy - the global supply/demand of savings vs investment opportunities. Wh
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Props to you for looking into it! Economics and finance are really complicated. Bank lending decisions are based on risk and profit opportunities, and not at all on reserves availability. QE mostly just substitutes central bank money for th
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
That is the correct answer :)
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
And you would be wrong. Inflation != asset prices. Don't make me post the global savings glut thing again... Also "rigged" is just conspiracy language. YOU CAN LITERALLY LOOK UP THE INDEX YOURSELF. Channel your inner hacker a
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
MMT is dumb, it's isomorphic to the current situation only it moves the responsibility for "cooling off" an overheating economy from the central bank (interest rates) to the legislature (taxes). And there is no way the legisl
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Sure. But that's not inflation. That's an increase in housing prices. If housing prices rise but rents do not, it doesn't make a difference to consumption - your consumption is either the rent you pay or the imputed rent. If
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Buying Bitcoin to hedge inflation instead of just buying TIPS is like saying: I think the price of AAPL will go down, so I'm going to get some lottery tickets.
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Federal Reserve act of 1977. Dual mandate: price stability and maximum sustainable employment. Inflation around 2% and unemployment under 4% pre-COVID doesn't smell like failure to me, but that's up to you. Especially if you compa
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
HN desperately wants to discuss economics but will not take a single second to read up about macro beyond some crank Austrian stuff. It's an entire field of study! There are people who devote their entire lives to investigating just on
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Because he has no idea what he's talking about. HN people are absolutely clueless on economics but insist on talking out of their ass at every opportunity.
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by AngrySkillzz 6y ago
Housing services are included in CPI and PCE inflation indices.

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