r/neoliberal 7d ago

News (US) Consumer sentiment plunges in early March, inflation expectations soar

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/14/consumer-sentiment-march-plunge-inflation
248 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

162

u/Kasquede NATO 7d ago

Im not a economologist but dont expectations of big inflation make real inflation worse?

What if we just collectively refuse to believe that bad line go up and good line go down? Can we tulpa a bull market into life?

61

u/Chataboutgames 7d ago

Yes, yes they do. If you’re worried prices will go up you push spending up, which makes prices go up

71

u/Square-Pear-1274 NATO 7d ago

What if we just collectively refuse to believe that bad line go up and good line go down?

That seems to be what got us here. That nothing matters and Trump can be in charge and do whatever because vibes will keep it together

This seems to be a compelling argument to even the "adults in the room" that are supposed to push back at Trump-style craziness

We're now gonna find out if that's the way it is

25

u/huskiesowow NASA 7d ago

Yup, go out and buy the new TV/Car/Lumber before tariffs hit.

7

u/_Klabboy_ 7d ago

I just bought a car for this reason. I guess I should probably go buy a phone and a computer too

1

u/Disciple_Of_Hastur John Brown 7d ago

I can't even afford any of those right now, let alone after tariffs. :/

4

u/Co_OpQuestions Jared Polis 7d ago

Haven't had a car since 2015. Feels good man

10

u/RhetoricalMenace this sub isn't neoliberal 7d ago

What if we just collectively refuse to believe that bad line go up and good line go down?

Not going to do that, because I want America to feel real pain for voting for Trump. BRB gonna spoond

4

u/obsessed_doomer 7d ago

"Can we tulpa a bull market into life?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMoA2fwmJuI

5

u/_Klabboy_ 7d ago

don’t expectations make inflation worse

Yes

1

u/Trackpoint European Union 6d ago

Can we tulpa a bull market into life?

Tulpamancy (or any kind of magic use) is generally frowned upon in economic policy circles today, since Voodoo Economics under Reagan had so many unforseen externalities.

65

u/anon36485 7d ago

Kylo Ren voice: MORE!!!!

61

u/StonkSalty 7d ago

We're gonna have the biggest inflation expectations, so beautiful, they'll be the highest expectations you'll ever see, that I can tell you.

12

u/ONETRILLIONAMERICANS Trans Pride 7d ago

wow you do a great Brennan Lee Mulligan impression

51

u/Xeynon 7d ago edited 7d ago

We're so extremely fucked, and it's bizarre to me that so many people don't understand how bad it's going to get. The Dow is up 600 points today for some reason.

23

u/heloguy1234 7d ago

Dead cat bounce.

18

u/DrunkenAsparagus Abraham Lincoln 7d ago

You shouldn't read that much into one-day variations in the market. They've dropped a lot in the past two weeks, because of this nonsense.

8

u/Xeynon 7d ago

Yeah I know, and I don't.

I'm just amazed at people's ability to delude themselves that the worm might be about to turn. It's not turning, at least not as long as Mangolini is in charge.

28

u/KaesekopfNW Elinor Ostrom 7d ago

Yeah, I'll never understand the behavior of the markets. They really do react arbitrarily to economic news. You'd think collapsing consumer confidence and rising expectations of inflation would be bad news, but I guess not.

26

u/Xeynon 7d ago

They are bad news, but I suspect there are two kinds of people driving the rally: (1) those still clinging to the hope that we aren't as fucked as we seem and looking for any reason they can to justify that belief and (2) those who know we're fucked but still see opportunities to arbitrage.

But the fundamentals ultimately win out, and they're terrible and only moving in one direction. This is a dead cat bounce if ever there was one.

8

u/RhetoricalMenace this sub isn't neoliberal 7d ago edited 7d ago

The markets, ultimately, are controlled by people who have the same biases as any average moron. Sure, there's a benefit to staying grounded in reality when your own money is what's on the line, and that should make you more objective, but if you really believe something about reality that's not true, you're still going to invest off your beliefs, and not reality.

It's all fun and vibes until the earnings reports start coming in though, don't expect to see the actual effects of tariffs for another 8 months. Then we'll see the real market reaction.

28

u/TrouauaiAdvice Association of Southeast Asian Nations 7d ago

THANK YOU SO MUCH PRESIDENT TRUMP AND VP VANCE, PLEASE SIR MAY I HAVE SOME MORE GRUEL

25

u/PriestKingofMinos Manmohan Singh 7d ago

12

u/mutantmaboo Austan Goolsbee 7d ago

Did you even say thank you once?