Why Have Policymakers Abandoned the Working Class?

[coloradoatheist]

so when a house doubles in price it's not considered inflation?

Not unless the price of everything else doubles within the same time period and causes devaluation of the currency.

But what we had was inflation in one major sector and the Fed thought from the 90s to recently that they could control inflation and they couldn't. So now they are being more cautious on it.

 

[Playball40]

Policy makers have abandoned the working class because the working class has abandoned its interests. The working class keeps electing and supporting class warriors (as in pro-upper classes) into office.

The working class doesn't have much choice since only the pro-upper classes can get the $$$$ to run in the first place.

 

[arkirk]

What inflation was that in the late 90s and 2000s?

Twinsies!

Actually, in a way, Colorado is not entirely wrong. If you were to lay a graph alongside the so-called inflation chart showing percentage increases in housing prices and realize that needs to be counted, then he would be right. I don't know what he would think about the inflation in the price of military hardware (which the government buys) which sucks up much of our national wealth. That had a part in the whole 2008 bust too. How confident can you be when whole countries are devastated "by mistake?"

 

[Axulus]

Policy makers have abandoned the working class because the working class has abandoned its interests. The working class keeps electing and supporting class warriors (as in pro-upper classes) into office.

I see, so that's why we got marginal income tax rates jumping from 35% to over 40%, capital gains tax rates going from 15% to 23.8%, no corporate tax reform, Obamacare (largest overhaul to our healthcare system since Medicare - and we all know how much those upper classes are lacking healthcare), Dodd-Frank (over 20,000 pages of regulations, biggest financial regulatory bill since the great depression), and the largest financial penalties ever assessed on banks and other financial institutions.

Yep, those upper class warriors sure are showering the rewards on the upper class.

 

[ksen]

lol

 

[coloradoatheist]

Twinsies!

Actually, in a way, Colorado is not entirely wrong. If you were to lay a graph alongside the so-called inflation chart showing percentage increases in housing prices and realize that needs to be counted, then he would be right. I don't know what he would think about the inflation in the price of military hardware (which the government buys) which sucks up much of our national wealth. That had a part in the whole 2008 bust too. How confident can you be when whole countries are devastated "by mistake?"

It is a concern.

 

[ksen]

Twinsies!

Actually, in a way, Colorado is not entirely wrong. If you were to lay a graph alongside the so-called inflation chart showing percentage increases in housing prices and realize that needs to be counted, then he would be right. I don't know what he would think about the inflation in the price of military hardware (which the government buys) which sucks up much of our national wealth. That had a part in the whole 2008 bust too. How confident can you be when whole countries are devastated "by mistake?"

That's called a bubble.

To blame inflation on any type of recession during the 90s and 2000s is ridiculous.

 

[coloradoatheist]

Actually, in a way, Colorado is not entirely wrong. If you were to lay a graph alongside the so-called inflation chart showing percentage increases in housing prices and realize that needs to be counted, then he would be right. I don't know what he would think about the inflation in the price of military hardware (which the government buys) which sucks up much of our national wealth. That had a part in the whole 2008 bust too. How confident can you be when whole countries are devastated "by mistake?"

That's called a bubble.

To blame inflation on any type of recession during the 90s and 2000s is ridiculous.

Huh? It increase the cost of what people were paying for something, which is normally called inflation. Inflation helps/hurts different people and its tradeoffs. And during the bubbles, the prices both helped/hurt the middle class.

 

[ksen]

Yeah, if you are going to just use words incorrectly I guess we're done.

 

[coloradoatheist]

Yeah, if you are going to just use words incorrectly I guess we're done.

Huh? If the exact same thing costs $100K to buy but now costs $200K to buy, why don't you consider that inflation?

 

[ksen]

You do realize that "inflation" means something specific when talking about economics, right?

Inflation is an indicator of an economy wide rise in prices, not just housing prices or the price of skittles.

So no, I don't consider something going from costing $100k to costing $200k to be "inflation."

 

[coloradoatheist]

You do realize that "inflation" means something specific when talking about economics, right?

Inflation is an indicator of an economy wide rise in prices, not just housing prices or the price of skittles.

So no, I don't consider something going from costing $100k to costing $200k to be "inflation."

It's both. Measuring inflation overall is very tricky too. The issue of concern for the Feds is identifying which measures are important, the impacts of their change, and the overall economic picture.

 

[ksen]

No, it's not both.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Yeah, if you are going to just use words incorrectly I guess we're done.

Huh? If the exact same thing costs $100K to buy but now costs $200K to buy, why don't you consider that inflation?

It depends on what everything else costs, also. If houses double but everything else stays the same you have some inflation but nothing like 100%.

 

[coloradoatheist]

Huh? If the exact same thing costs $100K to buy but now costs $200K to buy, why don't you consider that inflation?

It depends on what everything else costs, also. If houses double but everything else stays the same you have some inflation but nothing like 100%.

You have two things, you have an asset price inflation for real estate and you would have a general increase in overall inflation. People would understand inflation of other things like milk, gas prices, car prices. The Fed person even called it wage inflation. So how can he can he be worried about wage inflation if inflation just means general price increase.

As far as families go, they think of it in their terms. These items that I normally buy have gone up by X% or whatever. Measuring inflation is very imprecise though we treat it as something absolutely set in stone.

 

[SimpleDon]

It depends on what everything else costs, also. If houses double but everything else stays the same you have some inflation but nothing like 100%.

You have two things, you have an asset price inflation for real estate and you would have a general increase in overall inflation. People would understand inflation of other things like milk, gas prices, car prices. The Fed person even called it wage inflation. So how can he can he be worried about wage inflation if inflation just means general price increase.

As far as families go, they think of it in their terms. These items that I normally buy have gone up by X% or whatever. Measuring inflation is very imprecise though we treat it as something absolutely set in stone.

Asset price inflation is called "Capital Gains" and is considered a good thing, so much so that we have tax advantages to encourage it. And wage and commodity price inflation is considered to be a bad thing so much so that we manipulate the whole economy through the mechanism of setting interest rates to try to avoid it.

The wealthy profit from inflation, but they are the ones who want to have inflation tightly controlled.

Go figure.

 

[SimpleDon]

It depends on what everything else costs, also. If houses double but everything else stays the same you have some inflation but nothing like 100%.

You have two things, you have an asset price inflation for real estate and you would have a general increase in overall inflation. People would understand inflation of other things like milk, gas prices, car prices. The Fed person even called it wage inflation. So how can he can he be worried about wage inflation if inflation just means general price increase.

As far as families go, they think of it in their terms. These items that I normally buy have gone up by X% or whatever. Measuring inflation is very imprecise though we treat it as something absolutely set in stone.

No, measuring inflation is actually pretty easy. It is nothing but price increases year to year. Prices are easy to track.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Somehow, by helping those least in need of help – the wealthy – we will end up helping those who need it the most.

I do appreciate a good bit of sarcasm.

Policy makers have abandoned the working class because the working class has abandoned its interests. The working class keeps electing and supporting class warriors (as in pro-upper classes) into office.

And as long as they can keep the working class pitted against itself, this is the way it will stay.

The working class faces a media hostile to their interests and supportive of the interests of the corporations that own them.

The working class never gets to choose candidates from their ranks.

Practically every choice we get is a choice that has been carefully vetted by corporate interests. If they don't say the right things they don't get the money to have a campaign, unless they are like Rick Scott in Florida who paid $72 million of his own money to become governor. He's a lackey for corporate interests by genetic endowment.

It is a system where only those with a lot of money participate. And a system where the media is against the interests of working people in case after case.

I think as long as we continue to have consolidation within industries, all industries, not just media, they (the mega wealthy) become a more close knit group and harder to break. This is not a problem that ends at America's shores. This is a multinational problem.

I'm feeling more and more like a commodity, just something else to be exploited from cradle to grave.

 

[coloradoatheist]

You have two things, you have an asset price inflation for real estate and you would have a general increase in overall inflation. People would understand inflation of other things like milk, gas prices, car prices. The Fed person even called it wage inflation. So how can he can he be worried about wage inflation if inflation just means general price increase.

As far as families go, they think of it in their terms. These items that I normally buy have gone up by X% or whatever. Measuring inflation is very imprecise though we treat it as something absolutely set in stone.

No, measuring inflation is actually pretty easy. It is nothing but price increases year to year. Prices are easy to track.

It's not, it's an art form. The issues that are an art, are what goods to throw in the basket, where to measure those prices, how to weight the items in the basket, how to measure the product itself, and when to replace the items in the basket. The 60s didn't even have Internet, cell phones, color TV, etc, but we supposedly we can say its easy to compare? ...I can give examples of each and the issues. It's been known to overstate inflation over the long run.

 

[coloradoatheist]

You have two things, you have an asset price inflation for real estate and you would have a general increase in overall inflation. People would understand inflation of other things like milk, gas prices, car prices. The Fed person even called it wage inflation. So how can he can he be worried about wage inflation if inflation just means general price increase.

As far as families go, they think of it in their terms. These items that I normally buy have gone up by X% or whatever. Measuring inflation is very imprecise though we treat it as something absolutely set in stone.

Asset price inflation is called "Capital Gains" and is considered a good thing, so much so that we have tax advantages to encourage it. And wage and commodity price inflation is considered to be a bad thing so much so that we manipulate the whole economy through the mechanism of setting interest rates to try to avoid it.

The wealthy profit from inflation, but they are the ones who want to have inflation tightly controlled.

Go figure.

As we found out in the last decade, asset price inflation can be very bad. There are pros and cons to each type of inflation. Though the problems of deflation are overrated.