[adam_arthur]

It tends to be the well off people who dismiss inflationary pressures.

I certainly don't look at my heating bill every month.

But inflation is devastating to the working poor. Funny that it's so easily brushed aside by those who claim to advocate for them.

Consumer perception of the economy is roughly equivalent to 2009 numbers now, in a recent study. The public by and large thinks the economy is terrible, primarily due to the inflationary pressures.

Consider that unemployment affects the marginal job seeker, but inflation affects everybody. From a purely political lens, vying for higher employment at the expense of inflation, once past a reasonable threshold, seems like a losing move.

[gruez]

>Consumer perception of the economy is roughly equivalent to 2009 numbers now, in a recent study.

Source? Searching for "Consumer perception of the economy" leads me to consumer confidence index, which seems to be significantly higher than in 2009.

https://www.conference-board.org/data/consumerconfidence.cfm

[adam_arthur]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/06/upshot/inflation-psycholo...

[zzleeper]

If inflation is supply-side (e.g. oil runs out, a ship gets stuck in Suez, etc) then workers lose.

If it's demand-side, then their wages should rise up together with inflation so they don't win or lose (except for whatever savings they have and whatever time it takes for wages to adjust).

[adam_arthur]

Wage numbers come out with the monthly jobs report. Only one month this year did wages rise higher than inflation, IIRC.

So wages are rising, but slower than inflation, e.g. people getting poorer. And of course, many stay in the same job and don't get a raise, or get a paltry raise.

Many seniors living off of fixed income investments which are yielding lower than ever. And so on...

Workers are only better off if wage is strongly above inflation. I do see people cheering on wage gains, even though they've been persistently below inflation, which is a bit of a headscratcher.

It seems the public perception is finally starting to bubble up though, rather than the headline narratives.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/06/upshot/inflation-psycholo...

[rrrrrrrrrrrryan]

Poor people often have a negative net worth. If both inflation and wages are rising, it makes their debts easier to pay off.

I'm not arguing that inflation is good for poor people, just that "Inflation = Bad" is reductionist. There are winners and losers with inflation, and the lives of most individuals are affected in nuanced ways, both positively and negatively.