The Best of Reason: How Inflation Breaks Our Brains

From salt riots to toilet paper runs, history shows that rising prices make consumers—and voters—grumpy and irrational.

1x 1.1x 1.25x 1.5x 2x 3x

:15 :15

Download

The Best of Reason: How Inflation Breaks Our Brains

This week's featured article is "How Inflation Breaks Our Brains" by Eric Boehm. This article is from the October 2024 issue.

This audio was generated using AI trained on the voice of Katherine Mangu-Ward.

Music credits: "Deep in Thought" by CTRL and "Sunsettling" by Man with Roses

Comments

[Uncle Jay]

"How Inflation Breaks Our Brains."

Hey, Mr. Boehm.
Inflation does not break out brains.
It breaks our bank accounts.
Get a clue.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

It broke his brain. Made him ignore 20% increases over 4 tears and praise getting it back down to just 3%, 50% over target.

[Rob Misek]

Inflation is designed in to our fictional economic system right beside recessions and depressions.

There is no natural reason for it.

If resources are squandered we’re RATIONALLY supposed to recognize it as wrong, stop it and do better. This requires recognizing and eliminating the corruption that’s responsible.

Interest, whether on debt or wealth is the corruption of our economic system. Money represents work period. Work doesn’t grow or shrink exponentially on its own like interest.

The populations “brains hurt” because they’ve been brainwashed and they’re trying to make rational sense of our fictional economy.

The elite whose piles of money grow exponentially, without them lifting a damned finger in work, brains aren’t hurting.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

The best huh.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

If we rebranded inflation as a tax and rebranded taxation as theft would the entire population die from brain hemorrhaging?

[A Thinking Mind]

I think the MSM is already showing their hand with tonight's debate. They're going to try to play the Reverse Uno card on Trump and say, "Actually it turns out Trump is senile!" Be on the lookout for it.

I've already seen the groundwork laid. "Trump is 78 years old! He seems tired. He's incoherent, he's constantly talking about nonsense." I have seen the headlines. So that's the spin they're expecting to put on this one after tonight.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

So Trump, when pressed, is refusing to state that he would veto a national abortion ban. Huh.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Trump: "I've been a leader on fertilization." LOL

[chemjeff radical individualist]

And KamKam brings up the whole "national abortion monitor" bullshit.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

LOL he did it, Trump brought up the "immigrants eating the dogs in Springfield" fake news. That must be why you all like him so much - he buys into the same right-wing narrative bullshit that you all do.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

They all read the same fake news.

[JesseAz (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

I mean you're here daily saying how great the Joe Biden economy is. Jeff is here failing at math daily.

You two are so ignorant it is amusing. Please keep it up.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Reading your comments in the context of Trump's conduct in the debate, I can see how you have emulated Trump: whenever you are backed into a corner, you just make shit up.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Yes, they all read the same fake news, including Trump. That is why they like him. Trump amplifies their fake news and has a powerful role of trying to turn it into "real" news, in the sense of getting a critical mass of people to believe it regardless if it is true or not.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

Impressions 45 minutes in. Donnie is lying his ass off but in a confident manner. Kammy is communicating well using complete sentences. Unlike cadaver Joe. What a difference.

The public will perceive Donnie as angry and petulant. Kammy looks calm and rational in contrast.

Betting markets are inching Kammys way. Donnie is spitting mad.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

He is lying his ass off and very, very, very angry. He's angry and has contempt for everyone.

Notice that whenever he was pressed on trying to answer an uncomfortable question, he would deflect and pivot to immigration?
"Trump, will you veto a national abortion ban?"
"Well, let me tell you about all the immigrant rapists and murderers invading the country!!!"

"Trump, do you regret anything that you did on Jan. 6?"
"Well, let me tell you about all the immigrants eating cats in Springfield!"

It is so glaringly obvious from this debate that he treats immigrants as nothing more than scapegoats.

And Harris does look calm and collected, but she is also lying her ass off. She lied about "national abortion monitors" and she lied about the scaremongering on Project 2025. But the fact that she lies with such calmness makes her lies in a sense more dangerous.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Trump cites Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity as authoritative sources. LOL

[chemjeff radical individualist]

NOW I think I get it. Why you all like Trump so much.

Because he completely believes the post-modernist socially constructed reality that is created by the right-wing media bubble. So the MAGA-world influencers which do their part to create this reality - like Laura Ingraham, like Hannity, like Twitter people like LibsofTikTok and EndWokeness and the other morons - they can directly manipulate him to push their narrative. All they have to do is push a viral video on Twitter to make it look like Haitian immigrants are eating dogs in Springfield, and Trump will not only believe it but amplify it and get a large number of people to believe it too, on the strength of Trump's popularity.

Trump is a powerful vector for right-wing influencing of the larger culture. That is why you like him. Because you can so easily manipulate him.

[Nobartium]

Believe whatever will set your mind at ease.

Just don't have an aneurism over the debate.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

https://www.predictit.org/

Seven point swing to Kammy 56-48. It was only 1 point at 9pm EST.

[Daddyhill]

SOME consumers and voters may be grumpy and irrational. Most likely these are people who's household income is less than 150K. These are some of the same people who lost family and friends during the pandemic. People who's income is 150K to 500K may be a bit irritated, and some of them may be irrational all the time. People who's income is 500K to 1M may be somewhat worried about their second or third house payments. People who's income is one million to 100 billion have barely noticed inflation at all and were much, much less likely to have lost family and friends during the pandemic. If anything, they may be a bit concerned about where they fit in the megayacht competition. You get the picture, right? Capitalism works much better for the few than for the many.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

"So you still don't have a plan."
"I have concepts of a plan!"

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

"Who knew health care was so difficult?"

What a fucking idiot.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

Donnie's fat-fucking jowls are drooping now. He is one bitter old geezer.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

He HATES her, to the extent that he doesn't even think she deserves to be there at all.

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug - Jan 6 = 9/11 (same motive)]

It will be interesting to see the angle Liz takes in the morning. She over-performed - I didn't expect much.

There was no knock-out blow. But the big perception will be his bitter incessant anger, in my opinion.

Media - attack.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Yup. His closing statement was pure bile. He said NOTHING that even is passably optimistic. He didn't even say his signature line of "make America great". The whole thing was about how horrible and evil and awful they all were. Oh and how the immigrants are ruining everything. It was dark and vile.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Their closing statements were so revealing.

KamKam: "I will be a president for all the people."
Trump: "They're all horrible, and immigrants are ruining America."

Her vision sounds optimistic and forward-looking. Of course it is "optimistic" and full of price controls and high taxes. But she delivers it with a smile.

His vision is pure hatred and bile and grievance. "We have to take America away from the horrible people!" It is negative and nasty.