Big Mac used to be 3.19 back in 2012, now it’s 6.09 but I don’t make double of what I did back then
What even is money at this point
Submitted 3 weeks ago by balderdash9@lemmy.zip to [deleted]
https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/b07df3d5-de98-475e-a4af-a8e3a35b3dcf.webp
Comments
Nikls94@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Yeah but think of how cheap TVs that you don’t need are.
Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
But no matter how much ketchup I use, I can’t cover up the bitter taste of the TVs lcd panel.
winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
That spy on you and sell your data and then get so slow with updates after a few years you need a new one. And have advertisements baked in
veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No thanks, when companies are doing their hardest to reserve and implement innovations, I’ll stick with my dumb 2012 TV til either it or I croak.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Inflation is underreported. They say it’s 3% annually when it’s actually 4% annually, so they can get away with it more easily if they only give you a nominal 3% pay increase.
RamenJunkie@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
When I worked there in the late 90s, a Big Mac MEAL was 3.14 after tax.
I worked in Drivethrough checkout a lot and a lot of those prices are burned into my mind, half the time I was not near the register when taking orders and giving totals when it was slow.
CubitOom@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
I use this simple formula:
Fisrt count the number of years Trump is in office, then multiply that by 0.5. Now multiply that by the price you would normally guess the cost to be.
So if Trump is in office for 5 years, and you think something should cost $20 it turns out to be:
(5*0.5)(20)=50Making that thing that should only cost $20 actually cost $50
balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
How does this formula account for the fact that I can’t do math? Bet you didn’t think of that.
Holytimes@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
In this case everything costs 50 unless it costs 100! Ez pz
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I shouldn’t need to sound like a 90 year old at my age.
“When I was a kid this was a dollar!!!”
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
They were saying that because it was weird to them. Inflation as we know it didn’t really start until Nixon.
Quexotic@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
I get this is just a shit post but this really gets at the unreality that has been manufactured for us. a lack of stability that makes everything just a little bit more unbelievable.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
so many things are going on that seem to violate the bullshit i learned in economics school that i am having trouble processing this reality as real, even though i know it is. it’s unsettling
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Which school of economics did you learn?
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
bullshit mostly. i was a micro guy not a macro guy.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
the thing is that a lot of economics that you probably learned actually was true in the 20th century. just that the laws of physics - which we always thought were constant, inchanging, unwielding - are suddenly changing; and that’s hard to deal with.
it’s like, we always assumed that energy is always conserved. we can move it, burn it, consume it, but then it’s gone. it doesn’t come back. now we have renewable energy, and it’s breaking people’s brain. conservatives in the US still think that renewable energy cannot possibly work and must be a scam because energy is always conserved, it cannot be generated anew.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
even back then the best macro model we had (that was anything quantifiable) was only 40% accurate so what i learned was only a bit true.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Money isn’t real, and humanity will keep enslaving itself until we equally distribute the products of our labor.
Food and housing didn’t cost money until we decided it did.
We can decide to change things again.
Strider@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
This is also why we could decide billionaires own nothing.
F_State@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
It doesn’t need to be equally. Some people wanna distribute based on need. And some people think if you work extra, you should get a little extra in return.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
There will never be a fair system as long as we keep creating different tiers of privlage.
No, we have enough resources to provide for everyone. Money isn’t a game to be won, it’s a tool for human beings to extract what they need from human societies.
dingus@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s one banana, Michael! What could it possibly cost? $10???
Yes.
Obi@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Big name stores will all move to personalized surveillance pricing. They will track your phone when you go into a store. Cross reference the fingerprint of your device to a database full of data on you that they’ve bought from a databroker. And then use that to jack up the price on the e-price tag if they know you really need that product. Plus they even will change the price on their website when you double check the price.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Fooled them, I already don’t go into stores. I order everything online. …… where. … they. …. Probably …. Already …. Do … that
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I went to Lowe’s the other day and bought a couple of drill bits. While there, I looked at some cabinet pulls – didn’t buy any or even picked any up, just walked past them and looked at them. That night on Amazon I got ads for drill bits and cabinet pulls. I assume it was something linking store footage with my phone data, but who knows. Maybe I got the neural implant already and the implant makes you forget you got the implant.
RamenJunkie@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
Probably not.video, just pinpoint geofencing on your phone.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Maybe I got the neural implant already and the implant makes you forget you got the implant.
or, the far more likely option, life is just a dream and that’s why things appear when you think about them.
BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Bought a brand of iced tea I never had before in the drugstore one day with cash, no points card or anything, got an ad on Instagram half an hour later. I had microphone and location turned off on Instagram, and location turned off on my phone altogether as I only turn it on when using the maps app.
Once glanced at a carton of soup broth in the store, just like you, got an ad on Facebook for it that night. Again location and microphone off, and I didn’t even touch it. I don’t use face recognition or biometrics or voice assistant stuff at all ever.
Once was cleaning up my desk and found a business card for my old manager. I tapped it against the keyboard for some reason of my desktop computer. This was a paper business card, and I only worked for her for a bit, and she popped up as a suggested friend on Facebook that day. I had never looked her up and hadn’t thought of her in years.
So what’s all that about?
Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Aight time to stop careyng my phone around to stores.
Only paler lists anymore.
Doorbook@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Everything can be compared to the basic ( water - flour - milk - eggs - chicken )
If a chicken is 10$ and full roasted chicken is 12$ and a burger is 15$ you know it is a scam.
If 1 kg of flour is 2$ but a small piece of bread is 7$ you know it’s a scam…
Coffee is a good example, single origin roasted coffee beans with 300gm is 17$ you can get 15 cup of it. That’s rounds up to 1$ per coffee cup. If you the coffee in a store cost more than 2$ you know it’s a scam. But you can take into account other expenses ( staff - settings - experience) and decide based on that
Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
If 1 kg of flour is 2$ but a small piece of bread is 7$ you know it’s a scam…
This is ignoring labor costs and possible artisan experience, depending on where you buy bread. Also funny because paying $2 for a kg of flour would be a crazy scam; that’s more expensive than even the some of the fancier flour brand
titanicx@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
His whole argument ignores labor costs.
polle@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Finally somone who understands how to approximate how cheap stuff actually is. My recent rage was about starbucks, my girlfriend likes the chai latte there and we went for a cappuccino and chai latte. It was my first time there. The prices are INSANE and the place was stuffed with people. My cappuccino cost something about 6€ the chailatte even more.
Some week later i realized that the chailatte there is probably not even a real brewed tea. We found chai latte sirup of the company monin that tastes exactly like the McDonalds version of chai latte. So Starbucks is selling hot milk with a shot of sirup for >6€. Its crazy!
NewAgeOldPerson@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
theonion.com/u-s-economy-grinds-to-halt-as-nation…
Time to share this antiquated “news.”
DudenessBoy@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Money is just pieces of paper and digital numbers. It’s only worth anything because we say it is.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
it’s worth noting that the usdollar is worth something because the military says it is. if you don’t pay your taxes in dollar, you go to prison where you get anally raped.
however, the military gets its strength through the legitimation by the people (democracy), so in the end, yes, the will of the people causes the political will, which causes military strength, which causes the value of the dollar. it’s a longer chain.
mtpender@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Tariffs?
theUwUhugger@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Minimal wage hasn’t been raised since 2009 in the US
salacious_coaster@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
Also systematic monopolization of everything by like five companies. With no realistic possibility of price competition, prices will go up until people decide to stop buying things altogether
Skullgrid@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
What’s worse is that the guy that was meant to be in horrid poverty in the christmas carol, earned more, adjusted for inflation, than bernie sander’s proposed 15 bucks an hour…
let alone the current minimum US wage.
Aedis@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
And the poverty line hasn’t been adjusted since the 60’s iirc. No president wants to be the one that tells everyone we have so much more poverty now!
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Well yeah, then we would have inflation! /s
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
And it was only raised by like 15 cents or some shit
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
And also the kidnapping of farm workers
remon@ani.social 2 weeks ago
Yeah, at this point it might just be some random number you see on the checkout screen.
Deflated0ne@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
pyre@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
alright i thought I wasn’t racist but today i realized i don’t like gray people
starman2112@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Exactly how I felt after buying four mozzarella sticks at QuikTrip earlier. This shit cost me over a dollar per stick. They’re not even big mozz sticks, they’re like 80 calories each
BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
A strange thing to me, and maybe I’m thinking about it incorrectly, is that things on Amazon sometimes cost significantly less than in the store. My hair products are easily 5 dollars cheaper than the store. I hate Amazon and I realize I am paying for delivery, but I just don’t get the economics of that.
curiousaur@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Amazon is far more efficient. The store has to move the thing there, put it on a shelf. Keep the lights on. Keep the store clean and staffed.
Amazon uses algorithms to distribute a few of those items to some mega wearhouse near you. It gets picked up by someone also picking up a dozen other things. And the cost of delivery is not the whole distance, your cost is just the last delivery location to yours, and those routes are plotted algorithmically to be as effecient as possible.
You driving to the store burning that much gas and wearing your tires the whole round trip, just for the one thing makes it further inefficient.
Stores literally only make sense if you want to try the thing out, for fresh local food, or for a bulk trip like Costco, where its more of a wearhouse than a store, and you pack you car so full you’re basically acting as the Amazon delivery driver. That’s why stores like CVS and Walgreens are closing all over, it simply makes no economic sense anymore.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Amazon is running lean until they can put all the brick and mortars out of business. Then they’ll raise their prices an order of magnitude.
pipi1234@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Money should be a store of value and medium of exchange.
The issue with our current monetary system is it’s controlled by states.
The only way out of this failed experiment is a money that cannot be controlled by anyone.
whoisearth@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Found the shitcoin advocate
Deflated0ne@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Rugpull enjoyer.
F_State@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
Money not controlled by anyone has historically been stores of value used in barter rather than money used for retail purchases as we understand it. Even precious metal coins.
LwL@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No, the problem is that having money leads to having more money and having more money also leads to having more power so every system just gets slowly worse for everyone except the rich
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Which makes it less stable and reliable and shady transaction are more difficult to track fown.
peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 3 weeks ago
I think I have sensory issues with both money and time.
Angelusz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Welcome to who’s line is it anyway! Where the rules are made up and the points don’t matter. 😉
chuckleslord@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Oprah at the grocery store. That’s all of us, now.
LotrOrc@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I will absolutely stand by the idea that burgers should cost MAXIMUM 10 dollars ansd come with fries
Basic burgers with a single patty, a piece of lettuce, ring of onion and slice of tomato should be 5.
balderdash9@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
MrChewy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Depends on how you think about it, if everything working like when you “borrow” stuff from a friend but quickly forget what is whose suits you, then free. If you think an evaluation of one’s effort should be quantified and rewarded fairly, think of a really low price. Now lower it. No, lower it mo-, no, even more. Okay, never mind, think of an unrealistically low number. Ye? Now half it, and you should be around there. From either standpoint, too much (as a tldr)
balderdash9@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Bonus: Image
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Thank you. Every time someone says “The Economy™” as something that should drive policy instead of being an effect of it, I get a little twitch.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Why should I give a shit about their economy anyway?
Obi@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
And yet whenever you try to bring this up you get folks from all sides of the political spectrum losing their shit.
Ironfist79@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
There’s a million questions involved in this statement. Who does the work required to grow and raise food? How do they survive? Is housing provided? What about the people working at the processing plants and truck drivers? Store clerks and security guards, etc. etc.
Perhaps socialism really is the solution.