Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 478 posts

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#131

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #125
CalRobert wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We were surprised to discover after her death (in the late 80's) that my great grandmother kept $1,000 in a pouch in her bra. I can understand not trusting the banks and wanting to always have some sort of cash on your person.

I cannot understand not having at least a couple hundred cash on you, and much more at home. What are people’s plans if the power or payment networks go offline? Earthquake, hurricane, ice storm, volcano, etc.

You obviously have considerable wealth if you think most people have the savings to keep hundreds of dollars on them at all times and much more at home. A large percentage of Americans can’t afford a $500 emergency. Also, many people don’t carry cash because they’re worried, rightfully or not, about being robbed. Same idea behind leaving stuff in your vehicle.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#132

Post by giantg2 »

cs137 wrote: 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…

"always carried penny pouches, because they remembered a time when one had to keep track of cents to survive."

Sure. But you also have to realize that a loaf a bread cost a nickle and that cards didn't exist. People carried around change because you could actually buy meaningful stuff with it and there wasn't really an alternative to cash (sure someplaces give credit but much different than using a card today).

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#133

Post by throwaway0a5e »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #2

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.

Everyone's character, behaviors, preferences, etc, etc, are formed in very large part by their life experience.

If I had a nickle for every time someone said something about the poors being scarred or broken and then in short order started spewing nonsense about how the poors have minimal agency, need guidance or protecting from themselves, are doing it wrong, etc, etc. I would be a very wealthy man. And a hell of a lot of HN would be poorer in $.05 increments.

Did you (in general, not personally) ever think that maybe it's all the upper middle class types who are doing it wrong and the only reason we get away with it is because we have money to sustain the lifestyle?

People who act like cheapskates, buying $500 cars, $20 Walmart jeans, while their peers sneer about the $2k Camry, and $50 Levis being a "better value", seem to do well at all levels of the economic ladders and even frequently improve their lot in life.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#134

Post by duffyjp »

seunosewa wrote: post #42

Is it fair to conclude that fossil fuel price shocks are good for the planet? If everyone experiences them early then we will all reduce our carbon footprint for life and slow global warming?

I 100% welcome higher gas prices. Americans are so wasteful it's ridiculous. It'll hurt if you're currently in an inefficient car but once you get a hybrid / EV you won't care. I don't even look at the price filling up my Prius.

SUVs that look like school buses and people commuting to an office job in full size trucks is madness.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#135

Post by olalonde »

nradov wrote: post #116
olalonde wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The basic solution to make medicine cheaper is supply more medics. It's shocking how little this is talked about... This is so obviously the root of the problem. People like to blame the free market but there is no free market in medicine. Corporatism is to blame for artificially restricting the supply of doctors and artificially restricting who is allowed to render medical services, both of which benefit the corpo…

Actually the primary bottleneck in the supply of new doctors is lack of federal (Medicare) funding for residency slots. Every year, students graduate from US accredited medical schools but are unable to enter clinical practice because they can't get matched to a residency program. Ask Congress to increase funding. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-fun...

How does that make any sense? Aren't student graduates actually paid to do those residency programs? If it's too expensive to train them, can't they take a pay cut? How come no other profession requires federal funding for placing/training graduates? Makes absolutely no sense unless you uncritically accept the status quo.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#137

Post by mgkimsal »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #125
CalRobert wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We were surprised to discover after her death (in the late 80's) that my great grandmother kept $1,000 in a pouch in her bra. I can understand not trusting the banks and wanting to always have some sort of cash on your person.

I cannot understand not having at least a couple hundred cash on you, and much more at home. What are people’s plans if the power or payment networks go offline? Earthquake, hurricane, ice storm, volcano, etc.

Plenty of us didn't always have 'a couple hundred cash' at all, much less 'free' to just carry around 'in case of emergency'. I can now, but don't for the most part, partially because of decades of not being in that position. We have a modest amount of cash on hand at home - we sometimes pay service folks in cash, or can tip a delivery person now and then, but those are rare instances. Neighbor kids selling door to door now and then too, but even then I wrote a check last time, directly to a school fundraiser, didn't just hand over cash.

If we needed to leave due to an emergency, some cash may help for a hotel, probably, assuming it's far enough away to have power/water.

If there's earthquake/hurricane/etc with resulting power outages, most of the places I'd go to wouldn't be able to even open their POS systems to take cash in the first place.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#138

Post by throw8383833jj »

giantg2 wrote: post #132
cs137 wrote: 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…

"always carried penny pouches, because they remembered a time when one had to keep track of cents to survive." Sure. But you also have to realize that a loaf a bread cost a nickle and that cards didn't exist. People carried around change because you could actually buy meaningful stuff with it and there wasn't really an alternative to cash (sure someplaces give credit but much different than using a card today).

yup, it's pretty easy to forget that the dollar has already lost over 98% of it's value.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#139

Post by jmyeet »

Let's extend this a little further.

If we accept that events in life can scar or even just affect you for life (as this article claims) then why stop there? These people have children. Do you think that habits that form out of trauma, housing insecurity, food insecurity or were in fear of their lives don't subconciously impact their children?

We don't even have to imagine that. We have physical evidence that the conditions a woman faces can impact her grandchildren [1]. Remember that a cis-woman is born all the ova she'll have so pregnancy conditions can affect grandchildren.

But even if you ignore the physical, you'll find cultural and psychological effects on children from people who, say, fled a war zone or survived the Holocaust or whatever.

If you accept all that you've then accepted that generational trauma is real (which it is).

So what do you think that slavery did to people long after chattel slavery (officially) ended?

[1]: https://www.science.org/content/article/moms-environment-dur...

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#140

Post by doubled112 »

twox2 wrote: post #99
dymk wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on where you want to buy. SF? Probably not going to happen. Almost anywhere else? Houses are plenty affordable.

100% also, why do you need to buy a house in the first place?

Because my mother taught me that 100% of my value as a person is being a home owner because that's the only thing that matters. Not even a condo will do.

/s but only sort of

Post reply on HN