r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 9h ago

Meme needing explanation Petah?

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u/StuartMcNight 9h ago

Low inflation might be the first step towards deflation. Many economists would argue that deflation is a worse situation for the economy because it leads to a sharp drop of consumption and therefore a huge recession follows?

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u/thevoidthatjerksback 8h ago

I doubt that anyone could explain this in a way where I would accept deflation as worse

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u/Steveis2 8h ago

They way it was explained to me is that a little bit of inflation is a good thing. Theoretically workers should get raises Based on the inflation rate one of the reasons things are so bad right now is that that isn’t happening but I digress. If your money is worth more then people will be layed off

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u/thevoidthatjerksback 8h ago

Companies can't function with zero employees. A system that requires annual raises by choice doesn't seem optimal. It seems like a way to subtly control and manipulate who gets more or less out of those raises

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u/Piecesof3ight 8h ago

Yes, the issue is wages for working class people not keeping up with inflation.

However, it is still the case that ~2% is considered optimal by most national economic control bodies like the Federal Reserve.

Deflation is dangerous because it puts the economy at risk of recession. Japan has actually been battling against deflation desperately for years now, and is struggling quite a bit. They were the first state in history to apply a negative interest rate on loans, trying to stop it.

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u/ujfalusiabel 7h ago

Companies can't function with a loss either. So as often happens with deflation, they just stop existing because as you correctly pointed out they can't function with 0 employees but nor can they pay more. So a huge loss of jobs happens accross the economy