201–210 of 227 posts
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I probably give off that vibe. But nah, I’m just a jaded, cynical survivor of the Rust Belt imploding twenty years ago, causing similar destruction to our mom n’ pops. From which we also never really recovered. Anyway, more importantly, what weird mushroom water? Is it any good?
kombucha and it is very much an acquired taste IMO
People have been complaining that the actual inflation is greater than the "officially reported" inflation for the past 30 years - ever since the Great Recession. The cost for energy was factored out, and even the cost of food was factored out to some extent - so long as you can replace item A with item B and the price of A > B then we'll take item B. This had led to an "officially reported" inflation rate that is lo…
> Cynics say it's to keep the cost of social security increases low, since they're based on the "officially reported" inflation rate. Intentional or not, it certainly has had that effect. Social security payments haven't kept up with the cost of living. My grandparents managed to live on social security alone. My father has social security and a state pension and still needs a part time job.
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> But it's irrelevant when that's the cheapest new vehicle, most working Americans need a car, and despite better fuel efficiency, it isn't really that much cheaper to own a car. Hedonic adjustments make sense in theory, bpractice it's a loophole to make inflation whatever the government wants it to be. The average new car in the US lasts like 2x longer than it did in 1998. Shouldn’t that factor in?
“The average new car in the US lasts like 2x longer than it did in 1998. Shouldn’t that factor in?” Absolutely not. Where do you stop with this game? Do you factor in that the seats are better so people go less to the doctor for back pain?
I mean, I really struggle to follow your logic.
If a paper towel roll has 2x the sheets but costs 1.5x more, is that inflation too?
I’ve seen some people showing actual price increases they’ve seen in their local communities. For a lot of folks it’s much higher than is being reported. Here’s one from a person in Seattle: https://preview.redd.it/max54wqv9kb91.png?width=1112&format=...
In Australia you would need to double those prices, to be on the low end of prices. Maybe we earn more money?
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“The average new car in the US lasts like 2x longer than it did in 1998. Shouldn’t that factor in?” Absolutely not. Where do you stop with this game? Do you factor in that the seats are better so people go less to the doctor for back pain?
“I pay $30k for something I have to buy once every 10 years and that is ‘inflation’ vs. paying $20k for something I have to buy every 5 years” I mean, I really struggle to follow your logic. If a paper towel roll has 2x the sheets but costs 1.5x more, is that inflation too?
The paper towel is a bad example because you clearly can quantify the number of sheets. It gets more tricky if you say new paper towels are more absorbent so you need less so there is no inflation although the sheet costs more. How do you measure that? These metrics are way too easy to be gamed. Next is apples costing twice as much but they are crunchier so no inflation?
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“The average new car in the US lasts like 2x longer than it did in 1998. Shouldn’t that factor in?” Absolutely not. Where do you stop with this game? Do you factor in that the seats are better so people go less to the doctor for back pain?
Yes, that sounds like a good idea if what you're trying to estimate is the cost of maintaining a certain quality of life.
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How is fermented tea “mushroom water”?
Old coworkers used to call the growth mushroom as slang for some reason, at least that was the first thing that came to mind. The other one is a ludicrously overpriced relatively recent beverage called mud water (caffeinated mushroom water?)
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I agree in general about the hedonic adjustments and their potential for manipulation or miscalculation. But automobiles are probably the worst example! Toyota didn't even roll out passenger side airbags until 1998. Only the driver had them prior to this. The new Corolla has 8 airbags. Today we have better fuel efficiency, collision protection, driver assistance, remote start... Even the seats are more comfortable. N…
If anything, shirts should get negative hedonic adjustments as the quality of the fabrics and craftmanship decrease. But I’m guessing negative hedonic adjustments isn’t a thing.