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The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

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Re: The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

#11

Post by treeman79 »

slg wrote: post #9

Argentina has experienced multiple rounds of hyperinflation due to failed monetary policy. Saying this story is a "lesson about the power of inflation" is like saying "the sun is hot". Yes, it certainly is, but it is so far beyond normal definitions of "hot" that people will have a hard time understanding it. This is more a story about the failures of Argentina's governments over the last 50 years than a story about…

There are a lot of people that think we can print spend endless amounts of money without consequences.

Heck an alarming amount of people don’t understand that bonds need to be paid back.

Re: The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

#12

Post by Taek »

Certhas wrote: post #8
t43562 wrote: post #3

I remember my dad encouraging me to save my dollars and not spend them on choc-99 double ice-creams ($2.13). These were soft whip ice-creams with 2 cadbury's flake chocolates stuck in the side and they seemed like the closest thing to heaven on earth to me. What my dad said seemed logical though and I saved. When I was 16 I had a holiday job that earned me many ice-cream-worths but I kept it - didn't buy a bicycle or…

As a childhood lesson you don't need crazy inflation for this to hold true though. Anything that takes more than a few of months to save up to just doesn't make sense as a kid. Your disposable income goes up by factors of ten every few years. You have 2$ to spend at 5, 20$ at 10, 200$ at 15. Then it slows down but you might still get to 2000$ at 25. Saving as a kid really never seemed worth it to me.

It's about the lesson more than anything else. I really want my kids to learn how to save and be well practiced at it, even though the utility function doesn't make a ton of sense.

Re: The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

#13

Post by clamprecht »

I'm from the US but I lived in Argentina for about 5 years (2013-2018). It was a great lesson, and I'm seeing things in the US now that I used to see in Argentina. At the bank recently, they had a sign about the national shortage of coins. That was common in Argentina. Sizes of products getting smaller in order to keep the price the same - "inflacion escondido" (hidden inflation).

Re: The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

#14

Post by imtringued »

teddyh wrote: post #2

Ah, the magic of interest: http://www.threepanelsoul.com/comic/at-the-bank

Why exactly do we want to reward already rich people at the expense of poorer people? Somehow, people convinced themselves that giving money to those who don't need it is efficient.

Re: The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

#16

Post by sdk16420 »

innagadadavida wrote: post #5

Are there any kids book that explain these money concepts to elementary school kids? I feel one the big failings of the school system is that these are not taught early on and instead a lot of time is spent teaching things that kids will never use in their lives.

I was hoping most people would be familiar with the exponential chessboard story, of which this is pretty much the inverse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem

Re: The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

#17

Post by ehejdud »

Certhas wrote: post #10
throwuxiytayq wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I looked up the definitions: Theft: an unlawful taking (as by embezzlement or burglary) of property. Inflation: a continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services. There you go, proved you wrong.

No post body was provided.

Re: The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

#18

Post by spawarotti »

Certhas wrote: post #10
throwuxiytayq wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I looked up the definitions: Theft: an unlawful taking (as by embezzlement or burglary) of property. Inflation: a continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services. There you go, proved you wrong.

I think they meant that "a continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services." is theft.

Re: The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

#19

Post by gpgn »

clamprecht wrote: post #13

I'm from the US but I lived in Argentina for about 5 years (2013-2018). It was a great lesson, and I'm seeing things in the US now that I used to see in Argentina. At the bank recently, they had a sign about the national shortage of coins. That was common in Argentina. Sizes of products getting smaller in order to keep the price the same - "inflacion escondido" (hidden inflation).

"inflacion escondidA"

Re: The money I saved as a child would buy one picogram of gold today

#20

Post by zmgsabst »

Certhas wrote: post #10
throwuxiytayq wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I looked up the definitions: Theft: an unlawful taking (as by embezzlement or burglary) of property. Inflation: a continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services. There you go, proved you wrong.

In definition 1:

> as by embezzlement

In definition 2:

> attributed to … volume of money and credit

We’d be able to conclude that “inflation is theft” from noting that inflation is driven by “printing money”, whether paper or credit, and that the benefits illicitly go to those in control of the financial system to the detriment of others — which the other poster would likely characterize as “embezzlement”.

So you proved that person right — at least to people who view the Federal Reserve and large banks as in a self interested cabal.

By embezzling the funds they print, eg giving special access to friends, they engage in theft towards society at large.

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