Tom SoualrdSep 16, 2023
Miguel de Icaza ᯅ🍉

OMG this thread is wild!

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@badlogic/111071396799790275

Mario Zechner (@[email protected])

Today was ... interesting. If you followed me for the past months over on the shitbird site, you might have seen a bunch of angry German words, lots of graphs, and the occassional news paper, radio, or TV snippet with yours truely. Let me explain. In Austria, inflation is way above the EU average. There's no end in sight. This is especially true for basic needs like energy and food. Our government stated in May that they'd build a food price database together with the big grocery chains. But..

Gamedev Mastodon
Sep 15, 2023 at 10:36pmIvory for iOS
Show threadChoong NgSep 15, 2023
@Migueldeicaza Evidence highly suggestive of price fixing uncovered by open source citizen sleuthing, above thread worth the quick read.
Show threadFernando MeyerSep 15, 2023

@Migueldeicaza I wish we had more English literature teaching the history of inflation in brazil after the military coup until 94 when the government finally tricked the population into believing in the money again + selling their souls for external invés.

Despite the technology advancements described in the thread. That’s exactly what happened when Sarney decided to fixate prices, found some help in old ladies that visited supermarkets with pen and paper to track these prices

Show threadFernando MeyerSep 15, 2023
@Migueldeicaza only to discover a cartel fixating prices and charging a premium to create scarcity to further increase prices. Meanwhile, Brazilian products in Argentina were sold much below their value.
Show threadZeh FernandoSep 15, 2023

@fmeyer @Migueldeicaza This is what I always come back to on the subject (in English).

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2010/10/04/130329523/how-fake-money-saved-brazil

It was such a weird time, and it worked overnight (comparatively speaking) after a lot of dumb political initiatives. Blows my mind to this day.

Show threadAGTMADCAT 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼🇵🇸Sep 16, 2023

@zeh @fmeyer @Migueldeicaza fundamentally all money really is is a mutual agreement of a value. If you can get everyone to agree on that value then the currency will be stable and reliable. If you can't, then it won't.

It's a masterful bit of sociology, certainly, very well executed.

Show threadLuis VillaSep 15, 2023
@Migueldeicaza I am legitimately shocked the government wasn’t already collecting that data?
Show threadLuis VillaSep 15, 2023
Not acting on it - completely unsurprising. But not collecting it at all! 🤦🏽‍♂️
Show threadbarrkelSep 16, 2023
@luis_in_brief they would have been collecting prices of a basket of goods for inflation monitoring, but that's not a comparative database comparing different retailers.
Show threadAntónio DominguesSep 16, 2023

@luis_in_brief if they collected it in the first place there would be no plausible deniability on not doing anything because they don't know if there are any issues.

No data, no problems.

Show threadMario ZechnerSep 16, 2023

@Migueldeicaza you know the law. Everytime I entertain you with my bullshit, you must donate to the charity and spread the word.

I don't make the rules.

https://cards-for-ukraine.at/donate

Cards for Ukraine

Tanja Maier sends €50 grocery vouchers to Ukrainian refugees in Austria.

Show threadfelix b. ohmannSep 16, 2023
@Migueldeicaza @badlogic done.
Show threadMario ZechnerSep 16, 2023
@fb @Migueldeicaza oh wow thank you! I only wanted Miguel's $$$
Show threadfelix b. ohmannSep 16, 2023
@Migueldeicaza @badlogic i hope this threads blowing up helps clearing your voucher queue. :)
Show threadBart Wronski 🇺🇦🇵🇸Sep 16, 2023
@badlogic @Migueldeicaza just donated :)
Show threadMario ZechnerSep 16, 2023
@BartWronski @Migueldeicaza thanks, much appreciated!
Show threadMiguel de Icaza ᯅ🍉Sep 16, 2023
@BartWronski wooohoo!
Show threadAlanSchtweetzSep 16, 2023
@Migueldeicaza This is some real-life @pluralistic action!
Show threadSatanmatSep 16, 2023
@Migueldeicaza thank you for amplifying this thread
Show threadJacobRPG 🫘Sep 16, 2023
@Migueldeicaza when capitalist markets are (at least) partially broken.
Show threadViolet MadderSep 16, 2023
@Migueldeicaza Hot damn! We need moar of this. Open source nerds ripping institutions new ones. Oh yes.
Show threadMathiasSep 16, 2023
@Migueldeicaza Whenever #Austria is making the international news, I am actually glad if it's only about corruption and digital incompetence and not something Nazi-related.
Show threadHawkmoonSep 16, 2023

@Migueldeicaza

I would donate money to anyone who finds a way to do this same data analysis for US supermarkets.

Show threadSam MorreelSep 17, 2023
@Migueldeicaza After reading through @badlogic's thread, I am convinced of an unwavering truth: Never underestimate people's potential for greed.
Show threadEric GilmourSep 19, 2023
@Migueldeicaza Man I'd love to see something like that for Canada
Show threadMiguel de Icaza ᯅ🍉Sep 19, 2023
@erictgilmour people are forking the repo and contributing their country specific data