BuT iF pRiCeS cOnSiStEnTlY gO dOwN, nO oNe WiLl BuY aNyThInG!!1!eleventy1!

Today the iPhone 15 is being released at a price of roughly $800 to $1100 each with better than projected orders by retailers. I'm willing to bet, based on past trends, that the iPhone 15 will be cheaper a year from now, just like every other phone ever.

And yet, people are buying them. Today. Weird. Don't these people know that it'll be cheaper to buy an iPhone 15 next year? Why would they spend their money now when it's going to be cheaper a year from now? Are they being directed by a central authority to buy consumer goods now instead of waiting so the economy doesn't crash in a downward spiral from a lack of spending?

I'm sure this is just a fluke and doesn't apply to other consumer goods like cars, TVs, boats, computers, kitchen appliances, Fluke multimeters, (and as King Mongkut of Siam once said), "etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

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There really seems to be a dichotomy between the deflationary argument against Bitcoin and peoples actual purchasing trends and habits. One of the two must be correct. Either people in general will wait to buy things at a cheaper price in a deflationary world, or people in general will buy what they want when they want. Empirically, I would say that price deflation seems to have little to no effect on the vast majority of people. New car sales have been rising in the U.S., despite it being common knowledge that it's far more inexpensive to buy the same car a year or two later (or 10 or 20 in my case). iPhone15s are selling well today, and new TV sales are up despite used (or even 1 year old new) TVs online being near the point of "I'll pay you to take it" in price. I understand the argumental flow of the deflationary case against Bitcoin, but it sure seems that the real world data doesn't support that approach. But what do I know, I'm just a working stiff that has to budget purchases in ever increasing fiat prices with a W2 job that's not keeping up. If only there were some way I could preserve my purchasing power for the things I know I'll need in the future.

Submitted September 22, 2023 at 10:59PM by Ralph_Naders_Ghost https://bit.ly/462PHRJ