[spectramax]

I think the government policies for COVID which were supposed to help the poor backfired and made things worse. Those that didn't invest, got shafted as commodities are becoming more expensive but it won't be perfectly clear until the short-term shortage fog has receded.

[KarlKemp]

That's unlikely. Everyone got the same amount, but taxation which (eventually) pays for it, is progressive. Someone with no income will pay aa few % in sales taxes etc when they spend the cheque. As you go up the income ladder, others will have to cover the costs with, for example, their income tax.

People with average income will have to pay back 100% of it, which is not too easy to make investing it. At the 10% pecentile, you're expected to cover for about three people.

[xxpor]

Have you completely forgotten 2008-2014? That's the counterfactual.

[spectramax]

That's known as hindsight bias and if anything, you're naively glossing over. The 2008 fiscal stimulus dwarfs COVID printing machine. Here is the actual data:

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/coronavirus-leadi...

https://www.economist.com/briefing/2021/07/10/surprising-lev...

https://www.economist.com/img/b/600/653/90/sites/default/fil...

[MattGaiser]

Keep in mind that "invested" could just mean owning a house. Those soared in value too.

In Canada, tons of people complain about how the pandemic is causing everything to soar in price and they wonder why politicians will not do anything and we just had an election where it was mostly an ignored topic.

What the non homeowners miss when they complain that the government's policies priced them out of the market is that for 65% of Canadians, the government's policies make them rich. That is why the politicians are quite happy about surging house values.

[version_five]

Inflation making your stuff worth more in absolute dollars is not the same as getting rich.

[MattGaiser]

Houses here often went up way more than inflation. 50% to 100% increase kind of thing.

[reducesuffering]

Yes because inflation is being measured as realized inflation instead of unrealized inflation.

Imagine someone in a basement printed 50% of the money supply; that unrealized inflation has happened, although consumers haven't yet seen it realized in CPI. But once that person starts spending it, it reverbates throughout the economy and becomes realized. Like potential energy in physics.

[MattGaiser]

But different goods inflate at different rates. Bread will not inflate much at all as few are hindered in their bread consumption by money.

Housing will inflate much faster that the rate of money supply increase as you can always own more property. All excess money would go into property and stocks.

If you own a house and stocks, you now have lots more equity to spend, but regular consumption has not increased in price anywhere near as much.

If you don't own a house, your goal just got a lot further out of reach and your salary will not rise accordingly because the prices for consumables didn't rise much and demand did not rise much.