r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Melodic_Judge_129 • 9h ago

Meme needing explanation Petah?

Post image
14.7k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.3k

u/IrksomFlotsom 8h ago

Try and think of our global system as an engine that's purpose is to make fuel for itself. It needs to keep it's input above the output in order to keep powered on. As soon as the input drops below output the machine starts to slow down and can no longer sustain itself. The engine is not designed to slow down so it very quickly breaks down

821

u/Gentle_Snail 8h ago edited 8h ago

Deflation can also result in a very negative feedback loop, the Great Depression was a deflation spiral for example.

199

u/Mayor_Death 7h ago

Is deflation a cause or symptom, though? To me, it’s just a number, but I understand that it is more than that to various economic groups.

As far as I understand it, deflation indicates that prices are going down, which is a good thing to me individually.

1

u/Marvinkiller00 5h ago

To you individually it might be. But guess what happens when prices keep going down. The companies make less money. And at some point that will mean they lower wages or mass fire people. And the only reason there would ever be for companies to lower prices that much, is that something else has gone SEVERLY wrong.