> In my view this is symptomatic of a more fundamental issue - global asset price inflation driven by a broken financial system (i.e. a system being artificially pumped up with cheap credit).
I've been crowing on this since the 2008 crash. The cycle is this:
1. A person has a job, but can't afford things
2. They get credit to buy the things they want, in lieu of demanding better pay
3. Everyone does this, so demand goes up and prices go up
4. The value of their dollar goes down
5. Go to 1.
Consumer credit has _broken_ money. Broken it. We've seen this in housing prices and student loans, and now that we have online checkout buttons that say "you can have this for $17/mo!", we're starting to see it in stock-and-trade consumer goods even more now.
We have to -- have to -- eliminate consumer credit if we ever want to give people a fair shake at maintaining the value of their money and purchasing things. Otherwise, prices will be determined by people who are dumbest with their money.
I've been crowing on this since the 2008 crash. The cycle is this:
1. A person has a job, but can't afford things
2. They get credit to buy the things they want, in lieu of demanding better pay
3. Everyone does this, so demand goes up and prices go up
4. The value of their dollar goes down
5. Go to 1.
Consumer credit has _broken_ money. Broken it. We've seen this in housing prices and student loans, and now that we have online checkout buttons that say "you can have this for $17/mo!", we're starting to see it in stock-and-trade consumer goods even more now.
We have to -- have to -- eliminate consumer credit if we ever want to give people a fair shake at maintaining the value of their money and purchasing things. Otherwise, prices will be determined by people who are dumbest with their money.