r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 9h ago

Meme needing explanation Petah?

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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/Charming-Fig-2544 8h ago

The Great Depression was caused by a deflationary spiral. Inflation encourages spending, while deflation discourages it, and spending is what props up the entire economy. You need money constantly circulating, and deflation makes that grind to a halt because it's individually more financially sensible to delay as many purchases as possible during deflation.

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u/Dmienduerst 5h ago

We should probably add in that it's the RIGHT amount of inflation promotes consumption. Too high of inflation has similar outputs with different motivators.

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u/Charming-Fig-2544 4h ago

Yes, you generally want inflation to be low and stable. On the order of 2%.