Do new US COVID checks mean round 2 of price hikes?

[Californication | 1,490]

From what I have heard from modern economists inflation in the U.S. could be maintained at any level especially because there is such a high level of unemployment. Unemployment and QE can somehow be used together to maintain low/no inflation. The only reason we are seeing inflation now is because the Fed is choosing to let the dollar weaken. 

[phart010 | 1,708]

31 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

The point was that this time around, stimulus has been taking place globally, so there isn't really a clear-cut case for expecting US dollar to drop relative to AUD or CAD in the same way that went along with the initial reactions to the GFC (where the original big blast of stimulus was US-centric to unstick financial markets while European countries were all talking about austerity measures instead)

 

I should have just quoted your last paragraph to be more clear. I wasn’t really questioning your comments on AUS or CAD or even relative strengths of any currency.
 

Just wanted to elaborate further on the point you made about US pumping out the most stimulus money in absolute terms. We haven’t seen the effects of it in the real economy because it’s just been inflating the stock market. A significant chunk of the money in the stock market is tucked away in retirement accounts. I wonder if we’ll see another “black swan” if/when all these baby boomers decide to splurge some of that money all at the same time... I guess it’s not really a Black Swan if we’re forecasting it.

Edited February 7, 2021 by phart010

[AstralSoul | 503]

What second check? Still haven't gotten mine. But regardless prices will continue to rise because somehow people simultaneously have no money and are struggling to pay bills while also having a lot of money to blow on old games. Meanwhile I'm slowly selling mine when I really don't want to, but to help pay my bills.

[Tanooki | 4,952]

4 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

What second check? Still haven't gotten mine. But regardless prices will continue to rise because somehow people simultaneously have no money and are struggling to pay bills while also having a lot of money to blow on old games. Meanwhile I'm slowly selling mine when I really don't want to, but to help pay my bills.

Damn that sucks and you're right, it's not right or fair.  I went through it in 2005 +/- a year around that, couldn't make ends meet and so so much went to the fire basically given what prices were then compared to anything in the last decade or worse, last 10 weeks.   All I can suggest, get rid of any heavy hitter you're not infatuated with to start, or if not, second to dumping an entire system and it's games you just kind of keep around and have but barely if not touched at all in the last year.  Money is better than dust bunnies.  And you can't eat dust like food to keep going.

[AstralSoul | 503]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

Damn that sucks and you're right, it's not right or fair.  I went through it in 2005 +/- a year around that, couldn't make ends meet and so so much went to the fire basically given what prices were then compared to anything in the last decade or worse, last 10 weeks.   All I can suggest, get rid of any heavy hitter you're not infatuated with to start, or if not, second to dumping an entire system and it's games you just kind of keep around and have but barely if not touched at all in the last year.  Money is better than dust bunnies.  And you can't eat dust like food to keep going.

Yea things have been rough since I was laid off last March because of COVID. Now I'm making much less at my new jobs than I was at my old one. But that's life. I already sold off expensive stuff and really the only few games that are worth a lot are my absolute favorite games like Earthbound, and I will not part with them. I've sold off my NES and Wii U collections,half of 3DS and DS games, a good chunk of GameCube, a bunch of Nintendo Powers and guides as well as amiibos and various collectibles in the last 6 months or so. It's not like I'm not doing fine without those things, but it sucks when I have to choose between paying bills and putting food on the table and getting rid of stuff I love having and some of it I've had a very long time. In the end, it's just stuff which is how I've come up terms with it. I guess it just boggles my mind how prices keep going up and people are still paying them in this economy.

[mrbogus | 21]

13 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

What second check? Still haven't gotten mine. But regardless prices will continue to rise because somehow people simultaneously have no money and are struggling to pay bills while also having a lot of money to blow on old games. Meanwhile I'm slowly selling mine when I really don't want to, but to help pay my bills.

This has perplexed me since the COVID economic downturn started. Somehow collectibles can skyrocket in price with major job losses happening.

Edited February 8, 2021 by mrbogus

[Khromak | 770]

19 minutes ago, mrbogus said:

This has perplexed me since the COVID economic downturn started. Somehow collectibles can skyrocket in price with major job losses happening.

This reminds me of people who talk about how "Reddit loves x celebrity." I think the same principle applies here: the US population, like the population of Reddit, is not a single person and has a variety of different financial situations. I, for one, haven't lost a single dime because of COVID, my income has increased a little bit, and I got a couple checks from the government which I had nothing to do with. So I know my slush fund for blowing money on videogames has gone up the past year and I'm certain there are lots of other people in my situation. There are also, however, millions of people who lost their jobs last year and either haven't found a new job or have found new, lower-paying, jobs.

[Tanooki | 4,952]

8 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

Yea things have been rough since I was laid off last March because of COVID. Now I'm making much less at my new jobs than I was at my old one. But that's life. I already sold off expensive stuff and really the only few games that are worth a lot are my absolute favorite games like Earthbound, and I will not part with them. I've sold off my NES and Wii U collections,half of 3DS and DS games, a good chunk of GameCube, a bunch of Nintendo Powers and guides as well as amiibos and various collectibles in the last 6 months or so. It's not like I'm not doing fine without those things, but it sucks when I have to choose between paying bills and putting food on the table and getting rid of stuff I love having and some of it I've had a very long time. In the end, it's just stuff which is how I've come up terms with it. I guess it just boggles my mind how prices keep going up and people are still paying them in this economy.

Exactly been there done that, and I had the same issue.  In the end, I lost 80-85% of what I had.  What was dozens(50~+) of consoles, handhelds(cart based) and singular based handhelds/tabletops was narrowed down to me keeping my Nintendo consoles and handhelds alone and then playing mental gymnastics of making depending on total carts a Top 20 to Top 40/50 list...everything else was a slow painfully removed hair by hair band-aid pull of a fire sale that sickened me.  it would have been exponentially worse but at least far more helpful too if it happened now vs then.  Just certain stuff I refused to dump, almost all of it, the ones that aged well and I had since they were bought/gifted new in the 80s and 90s before I was out of grade schoo(K-12.)  I've largely still kept to that all this time...recovered plenty on specific systems but a loss or two are still there.

You got it right though, it is more or less, just stuff, some of it is memories though too, like keeping an item from a favorite friend or a vacation etc like photos and stuff.  But the values you get now, oh does that ever help.  If you're curious about the losses since this is centered on you we can take that to PM, some sting bad enough it may even lessen the blow

[tidaldreams | 654]