https://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/Utility/GetImage.ashx?ImageID=bbf26d07-f7f5-4325-a3fc-a40fb9036e5e&refreshStamp=0
It's a well-recognized human bias to feel losses more acutely than gains. Perhaps something similar occurs with inflation. As essentials soar in cost--i.e. non-discretionary expenses such as shelter, food at home, utilities, childcare, healthcare insurance, etc.--our only response is sighing resignation: yes, it's a ripoff but there's little we can do about it without making major changes in our lives.
Discretionary purchases are a different matter. The pleasures gained by the purchase are significant enough to be worth the financial cost. But at some point--a point that varies with each individual--the cost is so high that the pain of that expense outweighs the pleasure of the purchase.
This may explain why the public mood is sour despite the rosy statistics of economic expansion. The experiential gains of abstract economic stability do not outweigh the acute pain caused by soaring costs for pleasures that were far more affordable just a few short years ago.
Put another way: economically speaking, what is unseen statistically may have more impact that what is seen. So GDP is rising, blah-blah-blah, but can you believe I just paid $56 for a nothing-special breakfast for two people?
You see and hear these experiential leverage points all the time now: if you take a moment to observe the shoppers in the meat aisle, you see many lookie-loos: people go to the "sale" cooler for steaks, look at the price, shake their heads and walk to the discount bin to paw through what little is left.
Or you hear another shopper mutter, "I'm not paying that!" after glancing at the price.
Even well-off retirees are appalled when a fast-food meal that a few years ago would have been covered by a $20 bill now requires a $20 and a $10.
https://charleshughsmith.substack.com/p/the-psychology-of-inflation-what