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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

#601

Post by kingkawn »

dang wrote: post #560
kingkawn wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You gotta feed people to be able to do the restructuring. Your logic is hollow to someone starving. Also impressive you’ve attempted to resurrect the idea of “civilizing” people.

Would you please stop posting flamewar comments to HN? The GP may not have been a great comment but "resurrect the idea of “civilizing” people" is a wild and gratuitously hostile stretch. The site guidelines ask you not to do that. " Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith. " You've done it before, and even worse—for…

Can’t use policing tone as an excuse to let ridiculous opinions go unchallenged.

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#602

Post by jbay808 »

harambae wrote: post #598
jbay808 wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the government can raise rates and offer some kind of refund to people who bought their first house in the last year? Otherwise, the number of people in that "put their life savings as a downpayment on an overpriced house" category is only going to grow, making the problem worse when the collapse eventually happens.

>offer some kind of refund to people who bought their first house in the last year I think we run into real problems in America trying to protect people from the consequences of their own bad decision making. In addition to being deeply patronising, it eliminates so many of the normal incentives to be responsible and pushes up risk appetite across the board. If individuals make poor investments (whether on a house or…

I agree, but at the moment, it seems that same desire to protect them results in preferring a policy that drives prices ever upward. This would be a less destructive compromise.

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#603

Post by throwawaygh »

freyir wrote: post #594
throwawaygh wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's totally fair; sorry for assuming the thread was US-centric.

It also describes the most populous US state. The median housing price is now over $700k in California, while the median household income is around $80k.

California is an outlier. Even within California, the $700K number is caused by a few outlier markets.

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#604

Post by SilasX »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #596
SilasX wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's still equating technological deflation with (absence of) money-induced inflation, and it still assumes that the more powerful computer can displace the effects of food price inflation (or that the out-of-date computer can keep up with the same present needs). Also, Dudley said: >>“Today you can buy an iPad 2 that costs the same as an iPad 1 that is twice as powerful,”

> it still assumes that the more powerful computer can displace the effects of food price inflation Well, yes-kind-also-no? It's not an index that describes the cost of necessities or human survival. It's an index that describes how consumers spend money on goods and services, such that the value of the money remains more or less constant. In that sense, yes, people's computer-money spending patterns can affect the p…

I think I addressed these points in the other subthread and agreed that, yes, in general, technological gains can indeed alleviate budget problems, including affording food, but it doesn't hold for the example he gave. The comment for a longer reply.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26390606

>There's a reason we go for economy-level price stability instead of sector-specific. Imagine if the US had a real bumper crop, more corn and soybeans than you could eat: to meet food price stability targets the Fed would be obligated to shrink the money supply until the corn was as expensive as it used to be, and everyone's mortgages, loans, and credit cards would be harder to pay off.

That I don't have a problem with. The concern is with the opposite scenario: say the Fed is pumping enough money to raise food prices 20%, but techno wizards increase production efficiency across the board by 20% and exactly cancels it out. In that scenario the Fed should say, "wow, we're pumping too much money", not "inflation is just right", because they've stolen credit for the gains of technology.

Re: Food Prices Are Soaring Faster Than Inflation and Incomes

#605

Post by freyir »

throwawaygh wrote: post #603
freyir wrote: post #594

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also describes the most populous US state. The median housing price is now over $700k in California, while the median household income is around $80k.

California is an outlier. Even within California, the $700K number is caused by a few outlier markets.

$700k is the median. The average is even higher, and especially so in “outlier markets” (where outlier here means the cities and surrounding suburbs where most people live).

Also, more Americans live in California than any other state. So if it’s an outlier, it’s an especially impactful one.

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