Actually went to the price is right taping not that long ago. The audience got to ask some questions while they were setting up between games and someone asked how they got the prices. They said they literally just go to the grocery store down the street from where they tape and pick things up as they need them and use those prices. Not everything is complicated, it’s a very simple practical answer. It’s also good to remember these are LA California prices, so they’re going to be more than national average.
Why would people question the price of the prizes? All the contestants know that inflation is high right now, questioning the absurdity of the prices won’t help them win or accomplish anything else since the show doesn’t control the prices.
They just use what the things’ MSRP is (and sometimes round the number to the nearest 0 or 5)… You can be really good at the a lot of the game if you shop a lot and know the average prices of most things.
Same with an older, less popular gameshow called Supermarket Sweep.
I’ve watched The Price is Right since the 80s and their prices have always been high. I don’t know if that’s the price in California or if their using the MSRP or something else but their high prices is not a new thing.
The (orginal) idea of a target of 1-3%ish (depending on country) is that you want inflation small so businesses can ignore it for their planning. A business will avoid spending and possibly lay off people if they are expecting big increases in costs coming up.
“Good” inflation is driven by demand. Company doing well -> expand -> need more staff -> not enough people in job market -> have to raise prices to pay higher salaries to attract staff = inflation.
Bad inflation is more like: sales down -> cut staff to save costs -> less people have disposable income because they are losing their jobs -> sales down even more -> have to charge more per item because low sales remove economy of scale benefits = inflation
Deflation is a sign that the second one is starting. Sales down, so companies cut prices to try to get their sales up, they then have to cut jobs to stay afloat with lower prices, then those people cut don’t have disposable income so sales fall further.
You may have noticed the problem, which is that issues with inflation impact employees. Deflation is bad for employees. Inflation is bad for employees. Most larger companies are fine either way.
Inflation is great to keep the stock market afloat. That's about its only redeeming quality. The reason that most economists like inflation is the false premise that people will stop spending money if money starts increasing in value... but the vast majority of people are going to spend their money one way or another, cause they can't just stop buying food or paying for rent... and they're not going to skip out on what little fun they can have because it might be a little cheaper later.
Deflation is bad for the rich. Because it means their non-monetary assets are suddenly worth less.
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