In the garden with Luigi Moretti
04/21/2020
There is one good thing about working from home. There are just seven meters of walking distance between work and an after-work beer outside. So now I'm sitting in the garden enjoying a "Birra Moretti".
We have Signore Luigi Moretti to thank for this drink and he was probably no relation to his namesake Giovanni Moretti, who built cars in Italy from 1925.
In the contemplative silence outside, thoughts begin to wander. You can never completely forget this corona crisis. But who will foot the bill in the end, I ask myself. The answer is extremely complicated, because a lot depends on effects that are difficult to assess at the moment. For example, will we have high inflation rates or even hyperinflation in the months following the pandemic, as is sometimes rumored? If so, at least some pensions would fall, taxes on wages would have to rise and taxes might have to rise too. As a result, prosperity would fall and young people would have to bear a greater burden of paying off debts and the effects of the pandemic. The money saved would lose value, while tangible assets could become more valuable.
Which brings us to the classic car in the garage. Will it increase or decrease in value due to Covid-19? Declining prosperity would suggest that prices would fall, as more cars would come onto the market and the euro or franc would be less loose. As a tangible asset, however, the classic car could benefit from the rise in prices and become at least nominally more valuable. Hardly anyone knows how it will turn out. Neither do I. So I'll take another sip ...
P.S. Incidentally, the Moretti brewery went to the beer giant Heinneken in 1996 and the local brewery was shut down. Giovanni Moretti's body store ceased production in 1989. Both companies became victims of consolidation and concentration trends, and we can probably expect similar effects again as a result of corona ...
