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Leftists When Talking About Inflation
94% Upvoted
level 1
· 24 days ago
Adam Smith
You know what they say, Argentinians are an extremely greedy people, and the Japanese are exceptionally benevolent
162
level 1
· 24 days ago
Paul Volcker
Prices go down because even greedier capitalists show up to undercut greedy capitalists. There is a bunch of “margin creep” in the price increases I’m seeing though.
Source: I’m a “buyer”
222
level 2
· 24 days ago
Henry George
Higher margins are a price signal to motivate greater investment of capital into those industries
52
level 2
· 24 days ago
Shillary did nothing wrong ╮(╯▽╰)╭
Margins going up is totally natural when demand is strong but supply is inelastic. Consumers want more goods, but firms can't easily produce more goods even in competitive markets, so firms raise prices to avoid running out of stock quickly, and consumers pay the higher prices because they don't want to forgo the consumption.
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level 2
· 24 days ago
Gay Pride
Harder and harder to do as industries consolidate (oligopoly). You need to already be a giant to compete with other giant capitalists. The effect is still present, but increasingly less so with time.
15
level 2
[deleted]
· 24 days agoI mean, any company will increase prices as much as it can get away with unless they hate money. There's nothing wrong with that
2
level 1
ah yes, the recent history of somewhat lower prices, also known as the 'age of corporate generosity'
31
level 1
[deleted]
· 24 days ago · edited 24 days agoLike it or not, isn't the argument that capitalists can take advantage of shifting inflation expectations to raise prices more than necessary due to increased price of firm inputs?
76
level 2
· 24 days ago
Gay Pride
More than necessary?
Cost-plus pricing went out the window a million years ago.
That’s why some products are loss-leaders. For example, almost everything in a sit-down restaurant outside of the drinks.
63
level 2
"Capitalists take advantage" is bad phrasing.
My local deli is not 'taking advantage' of anything more than they already were by raising the price of a hero roll by a buck - if demand drops then prices will also drop, but as long as there is a ridiculous surplus of demand prices (and profits) will rise.
Major business groups have been far more hawkish on inflation than succs, but succs will still say they're exploiting inflation.
The solution is to increase supply, as always.
41
level 2
Yeah so the caveat is the meme is actually true if there isn’t enough competition in the market
2
level 2
· 24 days ago
YIMBY
What is a "necessary" price? Don't businesses typically charge whatever they believe will give them the highest profit?
0
level 1
· 24 days ago
Ben Bernanke
The Virgin "excess greed is causing inflation now" vs the Chad "excessive generosity caused deflation and the Great Depression".
11
level 1
· 24 days ago
Janet Yellen
there has been no increase in greed, its only that real world factors play a large role in how much that greed is allowed to bleed into increased prices.
15
level 2
Sorry, we're only interested in Le funny meme. How can I talk past leftists and reduce their position to a funny strawman? The status quo is perfect and I took an economics class in college so I can prove it by describing how the status quo works.
4
level 1
Meanwhile near zero mention on this subreddit of meatpacking plants lying about shortages to keep plants open during COVID.
41
level 2
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/12/business/meat-companies-investigation-covid-response/index.html
I'm not sure that's a significant counterpoint, but I'm glad you referenced it because I missed that story.
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level 2
level 1
Idk, I think that early in the worker shortage, a lot of employers thought it was something they could ride out with low wages.
So many business owners were just blaming everything on lazy workers and refusing to raise wages.
I remember the owner of a steak n shake on the news saying that everyone was lazy, and that's why nobody would work there. It's closed now, and I smile every time I drive past.
22
level 2
What's that got to do with anything? Yes, individual business owners may have misjudged the labor market. So what?
23
level 1
It’s funny that this meme needs to strawman the argument when we all know that due to increased consolidation the greediness of capitalists goes more unchecked by market forces. Companies are less likely to take a hit to their profits or corporate bonuses if they’re a monopoly that can control prices.
9
level 2
This is why prices increases are mostly occurring in the highly monopolized industries like, checks notes, you know what, never mind.
5
level 2
· 24 days ago · edited 22 days ago
Alan Turing
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FLq1kOkVcAEh0As.png
Also, you are literally just making a level/rate confusion here. Inflation is the rate of increase of the price level, not the price level itself. (Unless you're claiming that 'capitalist greed' is also increasing at a slow and steady exponential, after plummeting in 2020 and 2008?)
1
level 1
· 24 days ago
Gay Pride
The greed didn’t go up. That’s not what’s different now from before.
5
level 2
Yes, I don't think anyone seriously is saying that. They are saying it's a force we could try to regulate to force more of the burden onto firms over the end consumers. This is something that could be a lot easier to regulate to put slack into the economy than trying to regulate international supply chains or covid, other causes of the inflation. It's probably best to just use the existing tools at the FED.
I read "greedy corporations" explaination as "firms aren't going to tolerate any contraction of their margins they don't have to by law". I can't imagine a law that would work to pass the burden to firms without huge costs in practice but it's still not this nonsense possession to express that. Even more dangerous, attacking this strawman talks past the actual idea people want to talk about.
1
level 1
It's not that they get less greedy it's that their degree of market power changes. And market power changing is entirely within standard economic theory.
3
level 2
Look at the prices of TVs and computers over time as one example
32
level 1
Prices go down because other greedy people can make money that way instead of the person charging the higher price; this meme is a nonsense strawman.
I thought people here "got" that capitalism was harnessing the incentives of greed - why would capitalism work if people weren't greedy. And why would anything else work since people are greedy?
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level 2
Greed is constant, though. Prices aren't up because people got more greedy same as prices don't go down because they became less greedy. Greed exists but doesn't explain the change
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level 2
So when does that happen? Over the timescale of 5-10 years, minimum?
Someone just gonna start up an oil and gas company on those leased lands oil companies bid and sit on without increasing production because increasing supply is less profitable than riding out high demand?
2
level 1
This is a really bad representation.
Businesses charge more when they know that people will keep buying their stuff regardless of price.
Business charge less when for whatever reason consumers decide their products aren’t worth the cost. This forces producers to lower prices to try to bring customers back. They don’t do it out of the kindness of their hearts
Both of these decisions are rooted in a desire to make more money.
0
level 1
level 2
They don't say "sudden greed", they blame inflation on greed. The point of the meme is to point out that inflation changes over time- if greed is causing inflation today, why didn't it cause inflation 4 years ago?
And of course, this isn't just restricted to people we'd generally classify as leftists.
19
level 1
It’s weird that many of these greedy capitalists aren’t even raising prices but just asking you to wait a long time to get what you ordered.
-1
level 2
Consumers respond poorly to price increases or price discrimination, so there are cases where they just sell below equilibrium price and accept the resulting shortage. And consumers still get mad at firms for it.
ie: video game consoles. They always have massive shortages at launch and huge secondary markets, and the public gets mad about it and declares scalpers evil when the issue is that retailers are pricing them at a fraction of what they're worth.
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level 1
level 1
What would be the neoliberal explanation for inflation right now? Tariffs? Low interest rates? Supply chain issues?
0
level 2
"Neoliberal explanation" is just a way of saying "mainstream economist explanation" here right? Or more succinctly "expert opinion"?
And yes, supply chain, increased demand, etc.
23
level 1
False.
Capitalists don't get more/less "greedy".
Greed is built into the process, so the more/less has to come from external forces.
Bash Leftist all you like, but when there is a combination of record corporate profits (adjusted for inflation) and rampant inflation all the partisan right-wing rhetoric doesn't change the facts.
0
level 2
· 23 days ago
Immanuel Kant
Profits and inflation are caused by the same source: supply is being outstripped by demand. It really is that simple.
2
level 2
· 24 days ago
YIMBY
How is it a strawman? Many people are saying that the current high level of inflation is due to corporate greed, but everyone agrees that low inflation is not because of corporations being generous.
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level 1
level 1
Prices don’t go down. They go up at a slower rate (eventually hopefully). This whole thing is a straw man but the overall point — that there are complex reasons why inflation rates change — is sound.
-3
level 2
· 24 days ago
Alan Turing
Real prices go down all the time. And even nominal prices can go down, if the Fed doesn't print enough money.
5
level 1
Literally what? You would be a Hayek stan. Pls take the lib scenarios you invented in your head and keep them to yourself.
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As the title says, it is my belief that we as neoliberals must invade the state of Wyoming.
Wyoming is the most sparsely populated state in the country, with a population of only 581,348. In theory, if we created a mass-neoliberal migration into Wyoming, we could tangibly take over the state's entire political system.
In 2020, 267,050 people voted in the Election, with 193,559 of those people voting for Trump and 73,491 voting for Biden. That means Biden would need 120,108 more votes to win the state, r/Neoliberal has 136,000 members. Along with that Merav Ben-David, the Democratic nominee for the senate, needed 125,334 more votes to win, and we'd need 119,156 votes to flip Wyoming's sole congressional district, both within our limit.
Locally as well, we would've needed a mere 80,447 votes to win Wyoming's 2018 gubernational election.
Even more locally, we could flip any single city we chose, we could even flip multiple cities. The largest city in Wyoming is Cheyenne, with a population of just 64,099, we could turn any city in the entire state into a neoliberal paradise. Even if only half the sub moved to Cheyenne and the entire city opposed our preferred candidate, we'd still win the election.
The time is nigh my fellow shills, the invasion of Wyoming must begin. The Neoliberal exodus must begin, for we could form the ultimate neoliberal paradise filled with quality public transit and low corporate tax rates. Join me neolibs, and work to make Wyoming our promised-land.
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