[maxerickson]

It doesn't make sense. If there is a collapse in demand, prices will follow.

It's also reasonable to expect prices to go down if there is a productivity boom.

[munificent]

That expectation only holds together if you think of consumers as a single monolithic cohort. But prices can stay high and price out most consumers as long as there is a minority of rich ones still able to afford it:

https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/resource/bifurcated-how-the-...

[maxerickson]

Like they are gonna buy all the flour and tshirts at high prices?

The op didn't say that scarce goods would become something only the rich could afford, they said no one would buy anything.

[RealityVoid]

How many bags of rice do rich people buy on average, would you say?

[estimator7292]

It's only reasonable if you ignore literally everything that capitalism has done in the last 50 years.

Prices can only go up because to do otherwise harms shareholder value. None of the COVID inflation prices have come back down even though supply recovered. Prices continue going up.

[maxerickson]

People spend less of their income on basic needs than they did 50 years ago.

Housing breaks that somewhat, but on average people consume more of it (larger, higher quality spaces), so it isn't really apples to apples.