this post was submitted on 31 May 2024

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A Boring Dystopia

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"but- But- inflation go brrrr 🥺👉👈" (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 months ago by Bezzelbob to c/aboringdystopia

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[–] elephantium 163 points 5 months ago (7 children)

That chart is evil. First two ticks represent 5 years. Ticks 2-3 represent 2 years. The last two ticks represent 2 1/2-3 years!

Also, what's so magical about 2014 that it deserves to be the baseline? I'd love to see this extended back to, oh, 2006 or so. Sometime before the Great Recession.

Finally, what about shrinkflation? I used to order from Panera on a regular basis, but during the pandemic, it seemed like their sandwiches shrank a little bit more between every order. At this point, I don't think it's even worth ordering from them.

[–] TropicalDingdong 36 points 5 months ago

JFC I didn't even notice the x axis at first glance.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I guess just because it's 10 years difference?

[–] TropicalDingdong 29 points 5 months ago

There is no excuse for this kind of ungodly travesty of a lie made with data.

They are awarded no points and may God have mercy on their soul.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

The time line doesn't matter since it is only comparing different brands to inflation, not against time. You could stretch the graph but the comparison will stay the same.

2014 is just chosen as a starting point. Most probably because the info was readily available. You can make the same graph starting from any point in time and the conclusion of the graph wouldn't change.

[–] elephantium 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Hard disagree on both points. If the time line doesn't matter, why include it? It would be simpler to just plot the endpoints.

As for the conclusion, what if McDonalds kept prices the same from 2004-2014, but Popeyes doubled prices over the same time period? The final plots for 2024 would be in a different order. It would be a different conclusion. Unless nobody changed prices at all before 2014, you'll have a different final result.

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[–] Dubiousx99 150 points 5 months ago (6 children)

Ooooh, now plot the avg wage across this period. Y=min wage.

[–] MrVilliam 132 points 5 months ago (8 children)

I was talking with a coworker the other day and they were talking about how raising minimum wage causes inflation because businesses will raise prices to offset to rise in labor costs. I asked if he thought inflation had gotten bad in the past 5ish years in particular. He said of course. I said well federal minimum wage hasn't risen since 2009, which was 15 years ago, so it sounds like inflation is gonna happen regardless of wages and is based on the capitalistic goal of infinite growth, so maybe we should raise minimum wage so lower income people have a shot at affording basic necessities.

He just said no, then inflation just would've been worse. It's maddening.

[–] themeatbridge 47 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

The response to this is that inflation is a market force working against the downward pressure of demand. There is a limit to the amount prices can go up before people stop buying altogether.

Another inflationary force is greed, funneling additional profits into the pockets of the 0.1%.

Let the inflation due to minimum wage be X, and the inflation due to greed be Y, and the maximum total inflation be Z. X+Y=Z

Of course there are other variables, but in a general sense, if X goes up, Y must go down. If X does not go up, Y does.

So yes there will be inflation, but increasing wages takes more money from the ownership and puts it into the pockets of the bottom 99.9% where it will do far more good.

And in case it wasn't clear, this is precisely why the oligarchy opposes increasing the minimum wage. It has nothing to do with inflation, and everything to do with they make less money.

[–] AngryCommieKender 18 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Except that they have studies that prove that they make more money when they increase wages. Tons of em since the '70s have shown that putting more money in the hands of the poor just means that the rich get to skim off even more money. They oppose thriving wages because they want suffering.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It really is absurd... It's like basic fucking logic... You have more money, so you have more money to SPEND. Who benefits from more spending? Those that own the things we're buying!

But no... I need more more more more and fuck you for wanting a normal life. Daddy needs another private island. Git Gud suckers, just be a CEO!

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (7 children)

There is a limit to the amount prices can go up before people stop buying altogether.

Not when those items are necessities, like food. Damn us poor people and our need to...checks notes...eat.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Pathetic bootlicker won't accept the facts when they hurt his master...

Are we supposed treat these people as adults?

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[–] Archelon 20 points 5 months ago

Actually, this graph does display the % average wage increase!

It’s the line where the x axis is.

[–] Bezzelbob 19 points 5 months ago (5 children)

This companies are able to generate billions in profit every quarter, let alone every year. They have also been reporting record breaking profits quarter after quarter for the past several years. I'm pretty sure the 17 y/o Burger flippers aren't the problem here.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MCD/mcdonalds/gross-profit

McDonald's gross profit for the quarter ending March 31, 2024 was $3.439B, a 3.77% increase year-over-year.
McDonald's gross profit for the twelve months ending March 31, 2024 was $14.688B, a 9.03% increase year-over-year.
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2023 was $14.563B, a 10.26% increase from 2022.
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2022 was $13.207B, a 4.98% increase from 2021.
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2021 was $12.58B, a 29% increase from 2020.

[1]Average franchise profitability at Burger King rose nearly +50% last year (2023) compared to 2022

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/SBUX/starbucks/gross-profit

Starbucks gross profit for the quarter ending March 31, 2024 was $5.914B, a 0.06% decline year-over-year.
Starbucks gross profit for the twelve months ending March 31, 2024 was $25.104B, a 8.86% increase year-over-year.
Starbucks annual gross profit for 2023 was $24.567B, a 12.01% increase from 2022.
Starbucks annual gross profit for 2022 was $21.933B, a 7.93% increase from 2021.
Starbucks annual gross profit for 2021 was $20.322B, a 28.43% increase from 2020.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

It's the black line on the bottom

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[–] BeautifulMind 61 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

It's been maddening to watch people call price-gouging "inflation", honestly.

That's not fucking inflation when someone in the supply chain made things more expensive and pocketed the difference as a wider profit margin; it's the symptom of non-enforcement of antitrust laws.

I mean, most foodstuffs markets (in the supply chain between farm and grocer or farm -> restaurant) are controlled by very few people or corporations; when the farmers get less for their products but the grocer must pay more for them, that's not inflation. It's price-gouging, the symptom of the kinds of market failures that follow regulatory failures to prevent corporate mergers that would reduce competition in those markets.

When you look at food, fuel, housing, the enshittification of basically everything, the acquisition of yesterday's hot-fresh-streaming services and re-packaging them to be just as predatory as the cable was when you cut the cord and went to streaming- it's all what we get when private equity owns a piece of everything and they're running it all to squeeze more out of everyone they can, and they also ensure regulators don't do a damned thing about it.

There was once a time when regulators had the will to block corporate mergers, and they had the will to tax windfall profits at 100%.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 5 months ago (3 children)

If anything this tells me that that inflation number is bullshit.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 5 months ago (18 children)

The real dystopia is that people are talking about fast food at all. It's garbage food. Realisticly it's always been the worst and often most expensive choice.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 33 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

It’s garbage food.

It's quick, convenient, and explicitly designed to rub all the right parts of your palette. Besides, the worst part of the fast food menu is the soda and fries. The rest of the meal is marginal.

Realisticly it’s always been the worst and often most expensive choice.

Its consistently worse than home cooking. But not everyone has the luxury of a functional kitchen or a stocked fridge or the time to prepare the meal. And as to "most expensive"... hardly. I remember getting Chipotle on campus, when a burrito was $8 and came in at around 1000 calories. Very hard to name another restaurant that offered that kind of value, speed, and convenience.

A lot of what fast food restaurants are banking on today is this over-reliance on their convenience making them an inelastic good. No more home economics classes, teaching young people how to cook. Lots of gig work means people are always on the road. Lots of people living alone. Lots of shitty apartments where major appliances simply don't work.

You're stuck, dude. Now give me $15 for a sandwich.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (8 children)

Taco Bell is fucking ridiculous now. A single grilled cheese burrito on its own is over $10. The other burritos are 3 to 4 bucks as well. The entire point of Taco Bell is that it's supposed to be cheap garbage food you order at 1AM on a weekend after smoking a bowl, and that's no longer feasible. Now it's expensive garbage food. Nevermind that they also got rid of half the menu.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I'm lucky that I live in a town with about 2 billion taco trucks that are all insanely better and cheaper than Taco Bell. Plus, Taco Bell tastes like a Midwestern white lady's version of Mexican food, which made it easy to avoid even when it wasn't so expensive.

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[–] RagingRobot 26 points 5 months ago

The quality at all of those places has gone down over that time too. I didn't even think that was possible

[–] Got_Bent 22 points 5 months ago (1 children)

When I was in college, I could fill up on three bean burritos at Taco Bell for $1.81 out the door. Del Taco was cheaper at $1.50.

That was thirty years ago, but still. I don't know how to explain it, but it felt a whole lot easier to dig up that kind of pocket change back then than it does to dig up whatever it costs today.

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[–] slurpinderpin 19 points 5 months ago (6 children)

I'm pretty sure the McDonald's one is false, which makes me think all of the others are too. This is a bad faith argument. I'm assuming this is going around TikTok and that's why so many braindead people keep repeating it

[–] witten 21 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, look at the x axis labels. 5 years, 2 years, and 3 years. WTF?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Not saying it's right, but the spacing makes the drastic changes in 19-21 less obvious by spreading them across a wider area. Same with 21-24, just less so.

A consistently spaced graph would probably be more drastic looking.

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[–] heyitsmikey128 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm definitely weary of posts like this with no data backup. Also what is "actual inflation"? Wouldn't that be like average inflation across all goods? Doesn't inflation affect certain markets differently?

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[–] Jaderick 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I have found the article here: https://financebuzz.com/fast-food-prices-vs-inflation

At work so I can’t read it atm, but I’m interested to hear your conclusion later

[–] slurpinderpin 20 points 5 months ago

I found this article yesterday, from none other than Fox (who I would think would lean into this narrative): https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/mcdonalds-pushes-back-hefty-price-hikes-including-18-big-mac-meal

According to the McDonald's CEO, the $18 Big Mac (which is where this number comes from) was 1 location, and the average price of a Big Mac is up 21% since 2019 (less than inflation). So I think all of these numbers in your article are cherry picked or just made up

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

Oh wow, it's almost as if allowing the 0.001 to try and accumulate infinite wealth is a bad idea. Who could've guessed?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

Could under reporting of real inflation that consumers feel be a factor here?

I’m sure these companies are exploiting consumers, but I’ve also been suspicious of the reported inflation numbers. It feels a lot higher than that and actually it could be more in line with the companies in the graph.

Maybe it’s not the fast food prices that are high but the inflation number that is too low.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

My wife is charging me 140% more for dinner now, prices are getting insane!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

God this makes me so want to eat the rich!

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