r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 8h ago

Meme needing explanation Petah?

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u/Terpcheeserosin 7h ago

Why does things costing less make people buy less?

If wages stay the same, shouldnt people just buy the dip?

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u/Poland-lithuania1 7h ago

It isn't things cost less, it's money can buy more. Isn't it better to save that money for the future, when it's probably gonna be able to buy more?

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u/Terpcheeserosin 7h ago

So things don't cost less

But money can buy more?

So right now eggs are 10$ a pack

After deflation

You can buy 2 for 10 dollars because "money can buy more"

How is that not also, "eggs cost less" ?

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u/kbeks 6h ago edited 6h ago

When you zoom into a single grocery store item, it’s great. When you zoom out to a mortgage, you’re borrowing $400k from the bank and promising to pay them back with dollars that are more valuable than the dollars you’re spending today. Plus interest. While the value of your property drops year after year.

It’s also toxic to farmers who have to borrow to buy for the same year’s harvest. Again, the dollars they pay to pay off the loan will be worth more than the dollars they borrowed at the beginning of the year, and again, plus interest. The commodity they’re selling is also going to be worth less by the end of the year than at the beginning. Look into the Cross of Gold speech by William Jennings Bryan, it explores the same theme. Back in the day, the dollar was based on gold. As new gold was discovered, the value of the dollar would drop as more money/gold entered the system. In the absence of new gold finds, there would be deflation. Bankers loved it. Farmers did not. They preferred silver, which we were mining quite a lot of back then.