Weimar Germany and Food - Page 2

[mar123]

My dh was laid off due to the drilling moratorium. They are expecting 100K people to be laid off in our area within the next 6-9 months. Even if it is lifted, most companies will not start drilling again for 24-36 months; many have already packed up and moved. The only people really busy in that field are the people who work at capping the fields and shutting everything down. The companies are moving to drilling off the coast of Africa, Cuba and Brazil- where there are fewer regulations and workers are cheaper. He is eligible of UI but that is not even 1/3 of what he used to make. Yet because I teach, we make too much money to get any help with anything. We have no credit card bills, just regular bills that tend to be high. I am very scared that he will not be able to find anything and we will lose our home.

[Violet2]

Originally Posted by mnnice

I don't know historically what actually happened, but I would not assume rampant homelessness if we had hyperinflation situation. Both rents and housing prices would fall. .

Or people would just move in and squat. I think housing will be available one way or another.

We have a huge surplus, which didn't exist in the past.

V

[EdnaMarie]

Originally Posted by Usually Curious

I was reading something about available jobs. Apparently, there ARE jobs out but just not 'middle class' type jobs.

For example, there's a glut of college degreed job seekers, but not enough machinists, plumbers, electricians, etc.

IDK, my 18yos wants to be a math teacher/coach. Several of his coaches/principal think this is a good idea because a coach that can teach a core subject will have high demand. Teachers that teach fluff classes are the ones being laid off now. But in five years? What will be the demand for his chosen career?

We will always need electricians and plumbers and often they make more than degreed folks.

Ugh.

I think it's mainly the liberal arts that are not in demand.

Any type of job where you actually make something or fix something or build something (from food factory employee to engineer to nurse) is still more or less in demand. Jobs where you basically provide some kind of conspicuous opportunity to consume, are not, nor are service jobs that provide basic services where people do the conspicuous consumption.

Think of it this way: if at the end of the day, you can point to something and say, "That's my work" (even if it's not the same as the one you actually made), you're usually good. Your skills are at the very least transferable.

If you can't... watch out.

And I think it really sucks in some parts of the US (poorer areas), but in other parts, they're doing okay. I don't think it's the apocalypse or anything.

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by lalaland42

I don't get your point about the graphs. A lot of things happened between 1913 and 1923 in Germany that haven't happened in the U.S. to date. Such as starting and losing WWI. Being occupied and losing a significant amount of territory, including Alsace are other events that also have not happened. They had to pay war reparations and part of the way they did that is by devaluing their currency.

How do the graphs in this book at all apply to modern-day US?

Of course we are not in the exact same place as Germany, but we ARE facing spending an increasing percentage of our income on food. And since our incomes are not increasing that money has to come from within our budgets and many of us don't. have. room. for it.

[EdnaMarie]

but we ARE facing spending an increasing percentage of our income on food. And since our incomes are not increasing that money has to come from within our budgets and many of us don't. have. room. for it.

Don't worry, after inflation comes poverty followed by deflation. Prices will start to go down when we stop borrowing from China, which will happen soon enough.

[amyamanda]

Originally Posted by EdnaMarie

Don't worry, after inflation comes poverty followed by deflation. Prices will start to go down when we stop borrowing from China, which will happen soon enough.

EdnaMarie, I'm guessing your response was somewhat tongue-in-cheek and I would like to understand better what you meant by this statement.

I am a firm believer in encouraging people to cultivate optimism and joy no matter what the future might bring.

I do think that the world's balance of power is going to be shifting significantly towards China as time goes on.

[EdnaMarie]

I just meant there will be deflation when there is less currency, which is slowly happening.

It's in the New York Times. Chinese monetary policy and all that. We owe them a lot.

We're living in poverty now and I'm joyful and optimistic (mainly that I'll get a new job soon, LOL!) so I guess we're together on that.

[Usually Curious]

You may see groceries cost less but you will less cash to buy and therefore spend a higher percentage of your cash on food.

I believe we'll see biflation. Necessities will be inflated and luxuries deflated. In that climate cash will be king. Which may be why they are proposing and passing so many laws to track transactions.

[lalaland42]

Originally Posted by Usually Curious

Of course we are not in the exact same place as Germany, but we ARE facing spending an increasing percentage of our income on food. And since our incomes are not increasing that money has to come from within our budgets and many of us don't. have. room. for it.

I get that more than you know but the facts and figures that were posted in the OP have nothing to do with modern day America. Germany experienced an epic disaster and even if the US has problems, they are not along the same lines as pre-WWII Germany.

[Hannah32]

Originally Posted by lalaland42

I get that more than you know but the facts and figures that were posted in the OP have nothing to do with modern day America. Germany experienced an epic disaster and even if the US has problems, they are not along the same lines as pre-WWII Germany.

Exactly. The two situations are not in the same realm of experience.

Deflation is a much bigger worry right now than inflation.

[EdnaMarie]

Originally Posted by Usually Curious

You may see groceries cost less but you will less cash to buy and therefore spend a higher percentage of your cash on food.

I believe we'll see biflation. Necessities will be inflated and luxuries deflated. In that climate cash will be king. Which may be why they are proposing and passing so many laws to track transactions.

You mean Congress? I think they want to track terrorism and also tax evasion. On this scale, when it's easy to make anonymous purchases to launder money, they do not want that happening.

Not because we're returning to a barter economy. No society exists at this size without money. Money is awesome. It allows large-scale surplus to be created.