I think people in the US have been conditioned to expect low inflation forever, because inflation was concentrated on assets and large expenditures like Health, Education, Housing and so on. It’s cultural inertia, really. Down here we are 30 years removed from a hyperinflation crisis, so even media discourse considers wether or not the minimal wage rises above or according to inflation. We also have all the problems you have, like shrinkflation and lowering quality of foodstuffs. And arguably ours are worse. But the discourse of ‘what happened, I used to be able to buy a penny’ is never done with the implication that inflation itself is simply wrong for existing.
What I’m saying is that the way americans talk about inflation feels dramatic and sheltered. If I didn’t know any better I’d think americans simply have 0 inflation, but I know it’s confined to costs of living which the government doesn’t subsidize. Ie, anything but cars and gas. It’s all very
Homeless population is exploding. I guess in a literal sense, we’re accustomed to being sheltered, but I don’t see what’s dramatic about economic insecurity from stagnant wages and rising prices. “I am genuinely at risk of sleeping under a bridge” seems like a rational fear to me.
I think people in the US have been conditioned to expect low inflation forever, because inflation was concentrated on assets and large expenditures like Health, Education, Housing and so on. It’s cultural inertia, really. Down here we are 30 years removed from a hyperinflation crisis, so even media discourse considers wether or not the minimal wage rises above or according to inflation. We also have all the problems you have, like shrinkflation and lowering quality of foodstuffs. And arguably ours are worse. But the discourse of ‘what happened, I used to be able to buy a penny’ is never done with the implication that inflation itself is simply wrong for existing.
You might be overthinking it. Most people call any increase in price “inflation” and leave it at that.
What I’m saying is that the way americans talk about inflation feels dramatic and sheltered. If I didn’t know any better I’d think americans simply have 0 inflation, but I know it’s confined to costs of living which the government doesn’t subsidize. Ie, anything but cars and gas. It’s all very
Homeless population is exploding. I guess in a literal sense, we’re accustomed to being sheltered, but I don’t see what’s dramatic about economic insecurity from stagnant wages and rising prices. “I am genuinely at risk of sleeping under a bridge” seems like a rational fear to me.