"This positive spending is not a reflection of some sort of internalized secret sense of confidence that consumers have."
  • DessertStorms
    20•7 months ago

    Anyone who still believes in, never mind promotes the lie that is (and always has been) the “American dream” should be categorically ignored, if not publicly chastised.

    • @shortwavesurfer@monero.townEnglish
      6•7 months ago

      Exactly. The American dream is dead and anybody who believes otherwise is either an extreme optimist or delusional pick your choice.

      • DessertStorms
        9•7 months ago

        That, or they have a vested interest in continuing to perpetuate it and keep it “alive”, like the owners of this publication clearly do.

  • applepie
    17•7 months ago

    Or there is a more reasonable explanation that low income people by default have to spend all of their money survive and maybe then some more.

    • HubertManne
      5•7 months ago

      especially when things like food are the things going up. Just noticed this weekend that four things of tortillas was the same price as pair of frying pans.

  • @Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15•7 months ago

    What dream? This place has been nothing but one crisis to the next since I fucken became cognizant.

  • OddNugget
    10•7 months ago

    Stagflation is the name and losing purchasing power is the game.

    Replacing rapidly depreciating cash with something tangible might not be the worst idea. But, wasting money on stupid stuff you can’t resell won’t do anybody any good.

  • @Adalast@lemmy.world
    7•7 months ago

    Don’t spend. That is what they want. Spending is just transferring the money into the pockets of the greedy.

  • @LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world
    3•7 months ago

    Nah. I, for one, actually have a running list of things I’m refraining from buying because I’m saving up for a ten thousand dollar thing that I urgently need.

  • Shurimal
    1•7 months ago

    Use it or lose it.

    What’s the point of saving when real inflation rate* is higher than the interest banks apply to saving accounts? Or even average investment account interest rates? Saving now only makes sense in short term, for things you know you’re going to need and can save up for in less than a year—home appliances, phones, laptops, small home improvements etc—and even then leasing or credit card may make more sense if prices continue to rise.

    And that is assuming you have money left over after paying for necessities in the first place… It’s not as if you can pay for eg renovation of your bathroom after a year of being able to set aside just 30 or 50€, even if you don’t have an emergency expense taking you back to square 1.

    *This essay is from 2021 but things haven’t got better since:
    https://evonomics.com/the-truth-about-inflation-why-milton-friedman-was-wrong-again/

  • HubertManne
    1•7 months ago

    ironic given the idea behind increased interest rates is to encourage saving.

    • Mubelotix
      1•7 months ago

      Not really. It’s to give an incentive to keep using the currency. Without this a lot of people would short the US dollar

      • HubertManne
        2•7 months ago

        way I always heard it is to fight inflation they increase interest which is supposed to encourage people to save the money rather than spend it thus lowering inflationary pressures in addition to interest capturing dollars that become unavailable for purchasing.

  • @shortwavesurfer@monero.townEnglish
    0•7 months ago

    I can understand why they are doing it. However, I would advise doing it correctly. Don’t put yourself in financial stress. Just to spend money. But if you spend money now, then you have things that will actually be worth something. And you can pay it off with inflated money later. So you get the best end of both deals. As an example, if I wanted to, I could borrow $5,000 right now because the payment on a $5,000 loan would be $100 and I can easily afford that because I have a budget and know where my money is going. So I could take that $5,000 loan and buy gold with it, thereby keeping an asset that holds its value and doesn’t inflate away and pay the loan back with increasingly worthless fiat currency.