🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan23.182032.28056@csi.uottawa.ca> cbbrowne@csi.uottawa.ca (Christopher Browne) writes:
>In article <1993Jan23.165450.9818@athena.mit.edu> cmk@athena.mit.edu (Charles M Kozierok) writes:
>>an illusion which creates a deceptive situation deserves as much
>>of the blame (at least) as those it fools. even if most of the populace
>>should know better, they don't -- as such, that is one drawback of
>>inflation.
>
>After the fairly extensive amount of inflation which people have seen
>particularly over the past 100 years, it is NOT likely that there are
>many people who are unaware of the presence of inflation.
>
>It's difficult to decieve people who ARE aware that inflation exists.

i disagree, though i don't think either of us can prove it. when inflation
pushes both wages and prices higher, i think most people only see
inflation as pushing prices higher, and that they somehow "deserve" the
full amount of their wage increase.

>>it is not a matter of basic math. it is just a natural tendency that
>>inflation is often not considered when things increase in price. just
>>as people may "blame" the store when the price of milk goes up, they
>>similarly attribute "credit" to themselves when they get a raise
>>which is in fact just inflation compensation. 
>
>How can you say this in the presence of extensive COLA agreements?
>People DO know that part of their raises DOES relate to inflation.
>People demand raises that are based at least in part on the rate of
>inflation.

decent point, but most people don't have COLA clauses, and i bet
that many who do don't understand them, or have now entrenched them
so much into their expectations that they believe they are "owed" COLA.

>Those that don't are either: 
>a) Woefully ignorant, or 
>b) Considering that something else is much more important than
>inflation.  (For instance, a baseball player that did REALLY WELL this
>year may demand a pay increase based on THAT.)
>
>The fact that they'll "blame" the store for price increases, or
>"credit" themselves with wage increases is another question
>altogether.  It's either that they're incapable or unwilling to
>recognize the reality that EVERYONE that increases prices (for ANY
>reason whatsoever) is responsible for some portion of the inflation
>that occurs.

as an example of the way people trick themselves: have you noticed how
many people view their end-of-year bonuses as a given thing? i know
several people who have gotten into serious debt problems relying on
the bonus that suddenly disappears.

--
charles