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by coldtea 433 days ago
>They are not worth less in dollar terms. The same number of dollars will still settle next months mortgage bill, or tax bill regardless of what it may or may not exchange into Euros.

If only our living expenses were just taxes and mortgages, amiright?

This take reminds me of the old joke:

“I don’t get why people complain about gas prices going up. I used to put in 40 bucks, and I still put in 40 bucks.”
1 comments
neilwilson 432 days ago
Do your living expenses consist entirely of imports, and why would the price of that be going up given there is nowhere else for them to sell their stuff?

Prices go up if there is scarcity and no effective competition for your purchases. Is that is what is going to happen?

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_DeadFred_ 431 days ago
Living expenses are pretty tied to your 'scarcity', yes.

Transportation and home heating or cooling costs will go up when petro products rise. Oil is scarce and globally priced. Gas for the car is 3% of household income. Utilities are 6-7% of income

Fertilizer costs rise. Nitrogen-based fertilizers come from natural gas, and phosphate and potash are globally priced and often imported. That means higher costs for farmers, stacked on top of rising fuel and transport expenses. That's foods already 10-15% of income.

So food gets more expensive from every angle. Inputs, shipping, storage. All of it.

So that's 20%+ of household expenses hit.

Education costs go up too. Foreign students now effectively get a discount if their home currency strengthens and universities are expert at making that squeeze when they have room to raise prices without losing demand (if students still come, if they don't come well...education costs also go up to make up the shortfall of high paying foreign students).

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coldtea 431 days ago
>Do your living expenses consist entirely of imports

Almost - either imports or things produced and run using imports.

Of course if you make above $200,000/year your "living expenses" related to consumption of food, clothes, house goods, gas, etc. are a tiny part of that. For most people that's not the case.

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