(09-13-2012, 08:47 AM)kandrathe Wrote: They don't measure cars this way, but if they did treat cars like computers, if the top speed increased from 100mph to 200mph, and the price doubled --- they'd call it even.
And if they doubled the gas mileage, the safety, and the comfort, as well as the speed? Still counting a car as a car? Hell, shouldn't we count all cars, from a Lada to a Lamborghini, as the same, by your logic? They all get you from point A to point B, and since we apparently don't care about improvements, why not?
Quote:It's like New Improved Tide is more expensive per ounce, but counted as less since it's "better". I still wash my clothes at the same rate, and it costs me more.
How about using less of the better stuff? Seems like the obvious solution.
To flip that argument around to its logical implication, if your detergent got worse every single year, but not cheaper, would you still see that as no inflation? You're getting less washing power for your money - practically the definition of inflation. The Argentines played this game to disguise their own inflation for years, lowering quality of goods rather than raising prices per se. Packets of spices would slowly fill up with stems and dust. But, I guess, since spices give no "utility," (by your notion, certainly not mine, or any Economist's) maybe that doesn't matter? What if your car got slower every year? Or your computer? Surely you would start to feel you're getting less and less for your money?
-Jester