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Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

bloomberg.com

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Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#161

Post by pietrovismara »

pmlnr wrote: post #100
rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most wasteful are the richest though.

"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boot…

> "The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

> So in short: no. Everyone is wasting.

The wealthiest 20% of the world's population consume 80% of resources, while the poorest 20% lack the basics to survive.

It just takes 40 seconds of research to completely disprove your point.

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#162

Post by [deleted] »

luxuryballs wrote: post #138
dijit wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you kidding. There will be an insane recession, if not a depression. Capitalist economies have a short boom bust cycle and a long one. Short ones cause recessions every 10-20 years. Long ones cause depressions every 100~ years. It was clearly stated that Covid (if nothing else) could easily cause a recession, with other factors played in as well then it could easily trigger a depression.

These boom bust cycles are caused by fiat money, inflationary debt/spending, government stimulus and over regulation that causes false market signals and creates bubbles, it’s not a capitalism problem, capitalism would be the solution.

[deleted]

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#164

Post by ceejayoz »

chii wrote: post #153
ceejayoz wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, your question is "why don't poor people just get loans"?

The poor person paid out $100 over 10 years, for the equivalent goods that would've costed $50 in upfront capital (good shoes). So an enterprising banker would be willing to lend this poor person $50, to be repaid with eight $10 installments yearly, for a total of $80 - a 60% return on investment (7.5% pa returns). This would've kept the poor person's cashflow the same - $10 per year, and he'd have paid an extra $30…

Then they get hit with an unexpected $1k medical bill. They now default on your shoe loan, and the coat loan, and the car loan, and the rest of the microloans.

Poor people generally don't have access to capital except at incredibly high APRs that typically make things worse, not better.

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#165

Post by tinus_hn »

ketzu wrote: post #64
tinus_hn wrote: post #39

Turns out lockdowns aren’t free, even if you just don’t compensate businesses.

Was "lockdowns are free" a serious position held by a relevant number of people?

I’m sure these 13.5 million people in the US, who now can’t afford food anymore, wouldn’t have been such enthusiastic lockdown supporters had they realized they would pay the price themselves.

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#167

Post by marcosdumay »

BostonEnginerd wrote: post #155
luxuryballs wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These boom bust cycles are caused by fiat money, inflationary debt/spending, government stimulus and over regulation that causes false market signals and creates bubbles, it’s not a capitalism problem, capitalism would be the solution.

Weren’t there a number of long painful recessions in the US during the 1800s - when currency was tied to gold?

Yes, and the most accepted theory nowadays is that gold-tied money was a leading cause of the ~10y cycle we saw at the 18th century.

As soon as countries adopted fiat money, that one cycle mostly disappeared and even its timing became much more variable. But there are a lot of confounding factors, so this isn't the smoking gun it appears at first.

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#168

Post by [deleted] »

kungito wrote: post #88
rapnie wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first happens in The Netherlands on large scale, since they deregulated job agencies. There are 1,000's of shady ones, where administratively all is fine and dandy, but in practice foreign labour is paid far below minimum wage + they are often threatened to not speak up, passport taken, etc. This, btw, happens all across the EU is my impression. Modern-day slavery very much alive globally even!

I've heard first hand about this happening in Denmark on a large scale as well. It's hard not believing the government knows about this but does nothing. I wouldn't call it slavery in this case because people come by buses from Poland and go back home after the work is done. They have their freedom of movement. It's just the origin countries are so much worse than the ones where they go to work

[deleted]

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#169

Post by gher-shyu3i »

luxuryballs wrote: post #138
dijit wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you kidding. There will be an insane recession, if not a depression. Capitalist economies have a short boom bust cycle and a long one. Short ones cause recessions every 10-20 years. Long ones cause depressions every 100~ years. It was clearly stated that Covid (if nothing else) could easily cause a recession, with other factors played in as well then it could easily trigger a depression.

These boom bust cycles are caused by fiat money, inflationary debt/spending, government stimulus and over regulation that causes false market signals and creates bubbles, it’s not a capitalism problem, capitalism would be the solution.

Fiat money is the outcome of unfettered capitalism. The government needs money to pay its loans that it took with interest, so what does it do? Detach the currency from anything tangible like gold or other precious metals, then print more money as it desires, devaluing the hard work of people who are trying to save money.

There's a reason that interest and usury are prohibited in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

Market competition is good. Interest and usury are destructive dangerous practices.

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#170

Post by thechao »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #35
TimSchumann wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don’t really grow much but cattle in Texas. Doubt there’s a correlation.

Please research Texas agriculture. Cattle does account for half of ag commodities. However it’s such a large state that it is the top US producer of several non-livestock ag commodities.

My 42 years in Texas has taught me that out major export is bullshit; we’ve got a record crop coming in this year.
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