I’ve been wondering this question for a while. Ignoring current events, why is a little bit of inflation desirable?

I do understand that it’s done to “stimulate” the economy so people don’t let their cash rot in a checking account, but isn’t it a zero-sum game? Everybody says that money is not meant to stay where it is, rather, should flow through the economy. But if the economy always needs injections of liquidity because otherwise it fails, isn’t the economy broken?

I feel like there’s something I can’t comprehend about that.

  • zout@fedia.io
    2·
    1 day ago

    I’m also an engineer, and in my experience a reduction of blue collar workers gives only a temporary reduction of the work force; soon enough there will be more cost controllers, HR business partners and officers for all kinds of non value adding stuff. In my country we’re at the point where the people with bizarre job descriptions on LinkedIn are always posting about how to effectively employ the work force.

      • AskewLord@piefed.socialEnglish
        1·
        23 hours ago

        right, and what if you think this book is bullshit itself?

        this concept that some jobs are ‘real’ and others are ‘fake’ is just class-confirmation bias that has no basis in economic reality. Sure you might think a teacher deserves to make 250K because their job is ‘real’ and a investment banker doesn’t deserve 2.5million, but the truth is people generally value the investment banker far more than the teacher and the 1000x pay is reflective of that, especially as the teacher doesn’t help them increase their own wealth.

        forced pretense and bullshit is how most of the world works, this idea some there is some perfect world where you don’t have to pretend to care about nonsense to advance your career is delusional, there is no such world.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
          1·
          17 hours ago

          So clearly you’ve not read the book, which I mean fair enough but then at least try to understand what the argument is before disagreeing with it based on dogma. Here’s how it defines a bullshit job:

          Final Working Definition: a bullshit job is a form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case.

          The idea being that the person actually doing the work is in the best position to tell if their work actually means something.

          this concept that some jobs are ‘real’ and others are ‘fake’ is just class-confirmation bias that has no basis in economic reality.

          Good assertion, I hope you’re ready to defend it against…

          Gerte: In 2010 I worked as a receptionist at a Dutch publishing company. The phone rang maybe once a day, so I was given a couple of other tasks:

          • Keep candy dish full of mints. (Mints were supplied by someone else at the company; I just had to take a handful out of a drawer next to the candy dish and put them in the candy dish.)
          • Once a week, I would go to a conference room and wind a grandfather clock. (I found this task stressful, actually, because they told me that if I forgot or waited too long, all of the weights would fall, and I would be left with the onerous task of grandfather clock repair.)
          • The task that took the most time was managing another receptionist’s Avon sales.

          The book is full of exciting testimonies like this. Which is to say, the assumption that bullshit jobs don’t exist is clearly false.

          but the truth is people generally value the investment banker far more than the teacher and the 1000x pay is reflective of that, especially as the teacher doesn’t help them increase their own wealth.

          Investment bankers actually wouldn’t fit the definition in thr book anyway, but also hell no? Plenty of people want there to be more teachers in the world, or at least would consider that to ve a good thing out of hand. I struggle to think anyone ever thought the world needs more investment bankers. Besides, education is the best investment an average person can make by a long shot.

          this idea some there is some perfect world where you don’t have to pretend to care about nonsense to advance your career is delusional

          Just world fallacy. Just because something is normal doesn’t make it not bullshit, but also clearly a farmer or factory worker’s career doesn’t inherently involve pretending to care about nonsense. You should really read the book, if only to disagree with it in a more educated manner.

          • AskewLord@piefed.socialEnglish
            1·
            16 hours ago

            “other people’s jobs are bullshit, but not mine”

            inherently contradicts “The idea being that the person actually doing the work is in the best position to tell if their work actually means something.”

            The argument is bullshit itself. But this book isn’t trying to make a coherent argument, it’s trying to sell books by appearing to people’s resentment that their job is important and everyone else’s is stupid and worthless. Which pretty much everyone believes because we are all egotistically biased.

            I don’t need to read the book. The ‘argument’ has been around forever in various forms. ‘bullshit’ jobs have always existed and will always exist, and are just a product of ignorance and idealism that the world would be ‘better’ without them. Everyone hates administrators and bureaucrats and support staff and thinks they shouldn’t have to exist and ‘get in the way’ of them doing ‘real work’.

            You know what another bullshit job is? firefighting. last time I checked most firefighters aren’t putting out fires every hour of everyday they work…

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
              1·
              14 hours ago

              You legitimately have no idea what you’re talking about and I’m starting you doubt you’re even reading my replies in full. Unless you’re willing to give me a point by point counterargument like a normal person, this conversation is over.