Unpacking the Realities of Inflation

Curious about how inflation silently shapes your world? Discover the often-overlooked nuances of inflation and its profound impact on our daily lives in this eye-opening episode of Discover with Shaheen. We journey through relatable scenarios, such as why your salary negotiations feel stagnant despite promising economic indicators, or how a household's travel plans can suddenly take a backseat. By unpacking these everyday situations, we reveal the gap between perceived and actual reasons behind financial decisions, placing a spotlight on the ripple effects of inflation across global economies and its harshest outcomes in conflict zones.

Facing inflationary pressure is no small feat, but this episode celebrates the resilience and adaptability many people naturally embrace. By focusing on the strength found in adversity, I urge listeners to move beyond blame and find contentment within their circumstances. We explore the importance of making necessary adjustments and cultivating happiness internally, rather than being swayed by external economic factors. It's a conversation about human tenacity and finding joy amidst challenges, with an invitation to share your thoughts and topics you'd like to explore in future episodes.

Chapters

• 0:05 Understanding the Impact of Inflation
• 7:36 Rising From Inflation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Ever wondered why salary hikes are not regular? How does a husband convince his wife to keep her holiday plans on hold? When does a pensioner get nostalgic? These questions are varied, but they have one thing in common, and that is inflation. Hello everyone, welcome to the second episode of Discover with Shaheen.

Speaker 1: 0:42

Today let's dive into an interesting world of daily economics. A simple question for all of us what is inflation? Inflation is something when goods and services get expensive in our countries and that time we start cutting costs to keep it going. In a more formal term, we say due to high inflation, cost of living has gone up too. Things are fine till here we learn to deal with situations like rising costs. Now it's the turn of the smarties, or the junta, who justify their random financial decision by blaming it on inflation. I have three examples to back my argument Now. The first example is that of an office goer. If you are an office goer, I'm sure you must have come across a situation when your HR manager must have told you that market conditions are not rife to give salary hikes.

Speaker 1: 1:39

This year A former colleague of mine told me something similar. A former colleague of mine told me something similar. She got a 5% hike. Almost after two years. She was taken aback because her performance was good. The company where she's working also fared well. She said what is the problem? Even inflation is in control. It is hovering at around 4%, and even the benchmark, bombay Stock Exchange, the Sensex you know, the benchmark is the Sensex Even that has seen an upside and it will reach some 100,000 points by year end. Economists are saying this. So she's saying what went wrong? Why didn't I get a salary hike? You know I have faced a similar situation in 2016, when I got a similar hike after a hiatus and the HR manager categorically told me inflation is high and we have tight budgets. You know, even the outlook is gloomy. So, you know, let let you you consider yourself lucky. You have a job and this is how you know. I don't know. I was consoled by the hr manager and you know for office goers what is important salary appraisal day, because it brings in a lot of dreams. You upgrade your life with each upgrade of salary. You know you get a 10 hike or a 15 hike course. That's a dream now. So people start buying a car or you start planning your monthly investment schemes and you'd like to buy some small or big assets for yourself. So that's how your spirits are dampened.

Speaker 1: 3:18

Now my second example is that of a housewife. You know, I read it on Reddit, it was a beautiful feed. You know this housewife? Know, I read it on reddit, it was a beautiful feed. You know this housewife, she's complaining and she's written that for the past three years her husband has kept her travel plans on hold. And it's crazy, he tells her there's no liquidity. You know, my top line is hurt. The clients haven't given me money. Even I have to shell out a lot of, you know, because the import duty has gone up. It's crazy, we can't. We have to keep our holiday plans on hold. And she's saying it's not that she's planning some exotic holiday, it's a basic domestic vacay and it is meant to de-stress ourselves. And she's, you know, she has taken a she in a lighter way, she says that her husband is an economist. Only he can say when the market will cool off. Okay.

Speaker 1: 4:06

And the third example is that of pensioners. Now this, you, everybody, have come across this situation as well. What happens is whenever the youngsters if a youngster and a pensioner and an old timer or the grandpa is in the same room, in the, in the lounge watching television. You know, what happens is, when there's a conversation, you know, the younger kid or the adult always says oh god, things are expensive, how do we deal with it? Immediately the grandpa or the old timer will button and he will say you know, during our times the price of the milk was so, and so we used to go with small amount of money and come back from a grocery store with a bag full of you know grocery and monthly inventory. Our houses were not so expensive. The quality of life was. They will go on and on See, because for them they get fixed income as pension. Their kids take care of them. So they are not really, you know, interested in inflation that way, because they are not it. They have lived their lives, they have brought up their kids, so now it's time they take it easy. And they are taking it easy, they should know. So these three examples point towards truth versus reality. Truth is that people don't want to shell out money and the reality could be something else. Let's leave it at that.

Speaker 1: 5:25

And now, why am I talking about inflation? Yes, inflation is a hot topic these days and the World Bank releases, you know, twice a year. They have this data where they say, okay, affluent countries, or you know countries are doing good, these countries are not doing good and the outlook basic framework they give. And why inflation is important? Because it helps policymakers to decide on the policies, so that you know everything is, you know in sync and see, inflation is dependent on many factors. External factors could be there is a war, things hit the roof because you know there is no cargo movements, even prices of crude or the central dollar, the central currency, the dollar. If that performance is under pressure, everything is at. Everything is at hold. And at internal level, if you see even the fiscal health of the country, the policy framework, how the sectors are performing, all these are interdependent and this is how the inflation figures come out.

Speaker 1: 6:26

Just basic understanding. This is what we understand. But you know, what I have to say over here is the real inflation people have faced and are still facing is in war-torn areas when there is nothing left but depression of sorts. We pray the Almighty make it easy for those affected and the world becomes a peaceful place for all of us. In war-torn areas, people are emotionally devastated. They have no life and what they are going through internally. Only they can understand what happens then.

Speaker 1: 6:59

Just take an example of World War II. After the war, germany was worst hit. What people did is they banded together to tide the crisis. For example, a bakery you know a baker would give bread to the person who needed it and in turn, he would ask for you know, a cookware or curtains, or you know a bed and people. This was a sort of barter. There was local cooperation because it would take time for the economy to rise, to build up their currency, to rebuild themselves. So this resilience was there.

Speaker 1: 7:36

This was real inflation, where everything was at rock bottom and you rise from there. What people go through it it is. They don't make excuses, they just face it. This is a powerful example of how you know, you can say how inflation and inflation was. I mean, they don't even know what was inflation because they're facing it, you know. So making adjustments and things like that is okay. We all have to adjust in life also. So that's the way it is. We have to become strong and powerful and deal with situations in a more sorted way. We can't get into blame. Blame, after all, we all need to be happy and we are human beings. So let's be happy in our skin, and that's it from me now. I hope you all liked this episode. I hope you all liked this episode. If you have any ideas for our podcast, do write to me at discoverwithshaheen on Instagram or follow me at shaheenspeaks on xcom. Until then, take good care of yourself. No-transcript.