Inflation is bad for consumers, while economic slowing is bad for business. Guess which wins.

Yeah as @bobs_monkey@lemmy.ee says.

The whole discussion on the economy is sorta bipolar. Voters care about (A)inflation. But our whole interpretation of successful capatalism depends on (B)growth. Add to that the enviromental desire to reduce ©waste. And the only way corps can achive B without selling more products leading to C. Is A.

This leads to a media that can portray any situation as bad news. Except as they are funded via advertising they also need growth. Meaning there ability to sell shit requirs appealing to an audience that hates A. While ruling on the cuases of A.

Really the only answer. Don’t trust any of the arseholes.

The Eurozone was fucked the minute it lost access to cheap energy.

Energy independence should be a core element of national policy, but no. Germany had to shift to natural gas because burning methane releases half the emissions of coal.

Methane leakage from natural gas? Obviously not an issue, despite methane being 85x more potent a GHG than CO2 over a 20-year period and average methane leakage estimated to be between 1.4% and 9.5%. I hope I don’t have to spell out what that means for global emissions targets: even on the low end of estimates, natural gas is worse over a 20-year period than coal.

Wasn’t it a desired outcome, for the environment, for sustainability, for spiritual wellbeing (to reduce consumerism)? This is only partly sarcastic, since the endless growth spiral we were in was not healthy…

It’s a Goldilocks situation. Too much inflation leads to things like out of control price increases and a devaluing of a currency. For an example, Argentina is facing such a crisis. And it can get really bad. As the government tries to prop up the local currency, people end up avoiding it even more, because it’s just losing value so fast. On the other side of the coin, when growth goes negative, that can lead to high unemployment, stagnant or falling wages. This is a classic depression, and it’s never good for the average people.

For all the complaints about central banks and their interest rate fuckery, it’s one of the most effective controls central governments have on the economy as a whole. Turkiye was kind enough to run the counter-factual experiment and is now hoping to get inflation down to “only” 30% by the end of 2024. In a normal economy, you could probably produce diamonds with strategically placed charcoal and telling local economists that inflation may hit 30% next year. But, thanks to Erdogan’s desire to win another election, Turkiye is now hoping to get down to that number.

It’s all a balancing act. And raising and lowering of rates effects a lot of people in different ways. But,it’s going to be going on constantly as central banks try to keep inflation at a reasonable level, without causing economic contraction. And it also means reports on economic conditions which highlight where economists think an economy is going. Unfortunately, it also leads to journalists using those reports to write sensational articles. The economy effects everyone, and nothing drives clicks like fear.