Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(

[unofan]

Yeah you absolutely have to know the price history to shop on Black Friday

Yeah. My wife and I stocked up on stuff we'd normally buy anyway,* but were holding off for the discount. I'm liking the whole Black Friday sales starting early thing; makes it easier to shop online though the constant ads in the inbox/on the phone are annoying (which reminds me to turn off Amazon's notifications).

* We both may have had minor mid-life crisis splurges on top of that, but who's counting. Those are basically our holiday spending (or both Xmas and birthday in my case) since we've basically gone to only buying actual Christmas gifts for the kiddo these days minus our Christmas Eve book exchange. And they were still on sale so we still got actual deals.

[Kepler]

Brazil. Spartanfan found it. I was off by a few degrees of latitude.

It sounds like the Freshwater School destroyed pretty much every South American economy at one time or another.

[aparch]

Either...

Brazil. Spartanfan found it. I was off by a few degrees of latitude.

[St. Clown]

That was Brazil. They basically just added a conversion that was always stable for labeling prices. Milk would always be labeled as 1 New Dollar, even if from month to month the price went from 10 Old Dollars to 20 New Dollars. Once people got used to seeing stable prices in New Dollars, they officially switched the currency to New Dollars. Which leads to the dumbest aspect of inflation, in that it is at least partly psychological. Because inflation in Brazil did stop pretty much immediately. So all the stories and reports about inflation and how it's out of control is really just creating a feedback loop that continues inflation.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2...y-saved-brazil

Expectations Theory is real in economics. Here’s a good explanation: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/w...20it%20to%20be.

[dxmnkd316]

Yeah you absolutely have to know the price history to shop on Black Friday

[rufus]

I love the videos now of people realizing that stores either jack up prices weeks before to cut back down to normal prices on Black Friday. Or, for things like electronics, cheaper versions of things are produced for Black Friday. Well duh.

I buy a years worth of my shampoo, spf, skin stuff because I have sensitive skin, the stuff I use isn’t cheap, and I get 25% off Black Friday. I’m also pretty sure they aren’t making new versions for Black Friday. But that’s all I allow myself to do

There still are deals to be had though. I bought a 4k Blu-ray player, lowest price it's ever been. About $50 less than the cheapest it had ever sold for in the past.

[Kepler]

That was Brazil. They basically just added a conversion that was always stable for labeling prices. Milk would always be labeled as 1 New Dollar, even if from month to month the price went from 10 Old Dollars to 20 New Dollars. Once people got used to seeing stable prices in New Dollars, they officially switched the currency to New Dollars. Which leads to the dumbest aspect of inflation, in that it is at least partly psychological. Because inflation in Brazil did stop pretty much immediately. So all the stories and reports about inflation and how it's out of control is really just creating a feedback loop that continues inflation.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2...y-saved-brazil

This is fascinating. Thank you!

[Spartanforlife4]

All I can think about with countries tying their currency to the dollar/pound is years ago how some economists went to a central American country with rampant inflation and tied that country to an imaginary currency and inflation in the country ground to a halt.

That was Brazil. They basically just added a conversion that was always stable for labeling prices. Milk would always be labeled as 1 New Dollar, even if from month to month the price went from 10 Old Dollars to 20 Old Dollars. Once people got used to seeing stable prices in New Dollars, they officially switched the currency to New Dollars. Which leads to the dumbest aspect of inflation, in that it is at least partly psychological. Because inflation in Brazil did stop pretty much immediately. So all the stories and reports about inflation and how it's out of control is really just creating a feedback loop that continues inflation.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2...y-saved-brazil

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

You know I keep seeing headlines about how people can't afford things...yet apparently (according to CNN) Black Friday broke a one day sales record. So you can't afford groceries but can afford a big screen TV or PS5?

This country is so economically stupid. It is literally a talking point that things aren't affordable because jackarse in Idaho went and bought some 80000000 calorie burger at McDonalds (some specialty nonsense) and the meal cost $16. I paid slightly more than that for a turkey that fed 7 people with leftovers. How about you get out of your car and go inside of a store you fat stupid lazy phuck. Maybe you could work off some of those calories and help that mouth mouthbreathing problem you have. My lord this country is dumb.

I love the videos now of people realizing that stores either jack up prices weeks before to cut back down to normal prices on Black Friday. Or, for things like electronics, cheaper versions of things are produced for Black Friday. Well duh.

I buy a years worth of my shampoo, spf, skin stuff because I have sensitive skin, the stuff I use isn’t cheap, and I get 25% off Black Friday. I’m also pretty sure they aren’t making new versions for Black Friday. But that’s all I allow myself to do

[Kepler]

All I can think about with countries tying their currency to the dollar/pound is years ago how some economists went to a central American country with rampant inflation and tied that country to an imaginary currency and inflation in the country ground to a halt.

Either https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Boys or https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...always-with-us.

You probably mean Sachs because he infamously also f-cked up the post-Soviet world: neoliberalism led to the oligarchs stealing public assets, which in turn led directly to Putin's authoritarian regime.

[aparch]

All I can think about with countries tying their currency to the dollar/pound is years ago how some economists went to a central American country with rampant inflation and tied that country to an imaginary currency and inflation in the country ground to a halt.

[rufus]

And anyway, the only reason it broke a record was cause inflation's so damn high.

C'mon, everyone knows that.

[St. Clown]

Per this, 66 countries peg to the dollar or dollarize their economy; while 25 do it with the Euro. This includes the petrodollar economies, where the currency is actually pegged to the denomination of oil which currently happens to be in dollars.

Yeah, I knew the Wikipedia list was too short. Back in the 90’s, many of the former French colonies in Africa had adopted the French franc as their currency. While I expected they would adopt the Euro when it went live I didn’t care enough to really keep current on the matter.

[rufus]

I think it was Jordan Klepper earlier this year interviewing a MAGA dimwit who was whining about how expensive it was to live these days, and Klepper asked him how much he's spent on MAGA merch.

Probably a few thousand was the guy's answer.

[Kepler]

It's almost as if the economy is fine but the wealthy who own the media need a narrative to allow them to keep evading taxes.