> Not everyone is privileged enough to even hold debt, so it's really an exclusionary system

This seems backwards: I think the most salient debt in the average American consumer's life is student loans, car loans, credit card debts, mortgages, etc. These aren't hallmarks of privilege; not having any of them would be the hallmark.

(You might be right about corporate debt, I don't know. But I do think "deflation is only bad for people who hold a lot of debt" does a disservice in suggesting that that isn't a lot of ordinary people.)

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jart a day ago | parent | next [-]

So you think being a carless renter with no formal education or credit cards is privileged? I thought privileged people called them rubes.

	▲	woodruffw 17 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I’m pretty sure I’m saying the exact opposite of that. The point was that debt doesn’t map cleanly onto privilege at all. (Notably, the credit industry has moved onto schemes like BNPL that target individuals who would otherwise be protected from predatory credit by consumer protection laws. Those people are exploited, and unambiguously benefit - albeit not much - from an inflationary instead of deflationary environment.)

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necovek a day ago | parent | prev [-]

I think you missed their point: you are referring to the American middle class, but really, there are people much poorer who couldn't even go to university, or get out of an apartment rental in lousy neighbourhood, or own a crappy $500 car or...

	▲	woodruffw 17 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Those people frequently have even more exploitative forms of debt, like BNPL and payday schemes.