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Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

71–80 of 478 posts

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#71
post #12

I worked in a grocery store in the late '90s, and the older customers (who grew up in the Great Depression) always carried penny pouches, because they remembered a time when one had to keep track of cents to survive. This is how I know that, even if we miraculously fixed our medical system tomorrow and outlawed private health insurance by a constitutional amendment, we'll still have, thirty years from now, 60-year-ol…

Doctors say they are the only profession that saves lives. Well they're the only profession allowed to save lives. And the only profession making money saving lives. Charging for saving lives. Price discriminating to save lives. What happens when they make a mistake in what someone is able to pay? EDIT (I tried replying but can't yet): The basic solution to make medicine cheaper is supply more medics. In Chile anybod…

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Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#72
post #45
post #12

I worked in a grocery store in the late '90s, and the older customers (who grew up in the Great Depression) always carried penny pouches, because they remembered a time when one had to keep track of cents to survive. This is how I know that, even if we miraculously fixed our medical system tomorrow and outlawed private health insurance by a constitutional amendment, we'll still have, thirty years from now, 60-year-ol…

Honestly fuck the medical system, young people don't care. Housing is what's really getting us. Some days I feel like driving up to McLean and burning banks down. EDIT: I'm out of comment quota but dymk I'm so tired of hearing that, here's my reply: Oh fuck off. I make six figures and work remotely. My family lives in a rural part of a small state and I can't afford a house within driving distance of them. EDIT2: Ass…

Hey, there is a chance that inflation pops the housing bubble. Why risks crimes yourself when you can let the Fed burn the whole thing down for you?

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#73
post #69
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandma did this. Never left a penny on the sidewalk, always took the bread from a breadbasket home. Even my parents absorbed some of that behavior despite being born in the next generation.

> always took the bread from a breadbasket home Care to explain it to non native speaker from Europe? Is it some bakery chain and she took home some cheap/free leftover bread?

Some restaurants give a free basket of bread with a meal as a sort of appetizer. Most people either consume all of it or just leave the leftovers.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#74
post #57
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a very well off millennial. My fiancé and I both have high paying tech jobs. We easily make the income of multiple families. That being said we are strained to buy a 3-bedroom house like that of my single Mother who only has a high school education to her name. Given our success, we don’t have the “burn it all down” mentality but I fear it building in many of my friends and totally understand the sentiment of thi…

At least you have a partner. If you're on your own you're absolutely fucked. Not only are you alone but everyone else is out to get you. When we have the crunch in the near future I could see me and my peers torching things. I don't even worry about this anymore; I look forward to it.

Based on your other posts, I don't think you would sound much different if you had a partner. You clearly have a lot of anger and I encourage you to find someone to talk to. I mainly mean a therapist, but if that isn't an option than a close friend. Those feelings will eat you alive.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#75
post #52
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the time and mental energy wasted comparing prices could have better return on investment if used on other things like learning a new skill, meeting a friend, reading a book Maybe. Actual cost savings are observable now, with very high probability. Maybe that book or skill is useless; in other words, there's a broad distribution on possible outcomes. Who actually measures this stuff to assess ROI? It's not obvious…

Correct, this is what I’ve observed too. It’s stunning to me that the big tech companies - Amazon comes to mind - aren’t writing colleges big checks in exchange for “produce us people who can function in real life teams”.

>aren’t writing colleges big checks in exchange for “produce us people who can function in real life teams”.

The US has has the privilege($$$) to import the minds and workforce it needs, thereby skipping the need to invest in local education, and offshoring this burden to brain-drain countries in the process.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#76
post #20
post #12

I worked in a grocery store in the late '90s, and the older customers (who grew up in the Great Depression) always carried penny pouches, because they remembered a time when one had to keep track of cents to survive. This is how I know that, even if we miraculously fixed our medical system tomorrow and outlawed private health insurance by a constitutional amendment, we'll still have, thirty years from now, 60-year-ol…

My grandma did this. Never left a penny on the sidewalk, always took the bread from a breadbasket home. Even my parents absorbed some of that behavior despite being born in the next generation.

> Even my parents absorbed some of that behavior despite being born in the next generation

Yup. As a child of immigrants it gets passed down a very long way.

Pass it down far enough and it just becomes “culture” and “tradition”.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#77
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> always took the bread from a breadbasket home Care to explain it to non native speaker from Europe? Is it some bakery chain and she took home some cheap/free leftover bread?

Some restaurants give a free basket of bread with a meal as a sort of appetizer. Most people either consume all of it or just leave the leftovers.

Many people ask for more bread after they wolf it down and even ask for some to take home.

It might be buttery, lightly seasoned bread or something like rolls, usually fresh-baked.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#78
post #12

I worked in a grocery store in the late '90s, and the older customers (who grew up in the Great Depression) always carried penny pouches, because they remembered a time when one had to keep track of cents to survive. This is how I know that, even if we miraculously fixed our medical system tomorrow and outlawed private health insurance by a constitutional amendment, we'll still have, thirty years from now, 60-year-ol…

Doctors say they are the only profession that saves lives. Well they're the only profession allowed to save lives. And the only profession making money saving lives. Charging for saving lives. Price discriminating to save lives. What happens when they make a mistake in what someone is able to pay? EDIT (I tried replying but can't yet): The basic solution to make medicine cheaper is supply more medics. In Chile anybod…

I'm from Chile (and still live here). I don't know where you got the idea that anybody whot wants to be a doctor can go to a medical school without much effort. Medicine is by far the most exclusive career that you can apply to, they're always the highest scores in our version of the SAT (you can check the scores that are needed for one of our universities here https://www.uchile.cl/admision-y-matriculas/admision-regular...). There are some private colleges that have a lower entry barrier, but they're still far and above the rest of the careers that you can apply to. Their salaries are also ridicously higher than the rest of the population, our minimum wage is 462 USD$ and a doctor can make easily 20 times that amount (and if you're a specialist you can make way more than that). Obviously there are some cases where a doctor can earn less than that, but they are in no way or form just another professional.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#79

Being poor in general, during your childhood, scars you for life. It makes you penny wise and pound foolish, adverse to taking risks in your career and investments, can destroy your confidence in yourself, while always having to look over your shoulder monetarily speaking. Habits that even after you remove poverty from your live, you still feel the the anxiety and triggers in your head.

> Being poor in general, during your childhood, scars you for life.

You can learn to cope with the anxiety better if you talk to a therapist but it will never fully go away.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#80

Being poor in general, during your childhood, scars you for life. It makes you penny wise and pound foolish, adverse to taking risks in your career and investments, can destroy your confidence in yourself, while always having to look over your shoulder monetarily speaking. Habits that even after you remove poverty from your live, you still feel the the anxiety and triggers in your head.

Not necessarily, I grew up pretty poor, my mother stealing food from kitchen she worked to save money (and I had to lug it every day when I was older), father having mediocre salary (later divorced without father's income), yet now belonging to like top 3% earners in country I live, I have like 150K EUR in stocks and don't really give a F about losing currently 10-20%, it's long term investment. It probably also helps I bought apartment without mortgage in 4th most touristy city in Europe.

So yeah, I dislike the idea of being mortgage slave, but if I didn't optimize my income I wouldn't mind taking one to buy investment apartment, so I had to invest money in stock.

But the funny thing is I will refuse to buy something I consider overpriced even when total sum makes absolutely no difference at my income, I just don't like the idea of wasting my money on something which can be bought cheaper, so some people may think I am poor or cheap although I don't mind spending money on something I consider worth the money. For instance almost nobody here in Czechia has AC, but I am one of those few people who have one, because I value my comfort at home more than having newest smartphones and other crap.

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