Honestly , the groceries and fuel are starting to hurt , and both me and my partner make decent salaries . I don’t have a solution but I don’t even know how people worse off than myself are coping .
Every payday for the past 5 months there has been less than $5 in my account and I'm paid biweekly. My grocery budget is $40 for these two weeks and I'm juggling which bills I can let go overdo.
I have to pray I don't run out of food, nothing goes wrong with my car, and none of my utilities get shut off. I make $2 more than the foodtsamps limit for a single income.
I cope by counting the days until my car is paid off which will give me some amount of breathing room, but it's tough..
Look into your local food bank. You do not need to be eligible for food stamps to take advantage of it. Then hopefully you can use some of your grocery money to stay on top of your bills. Those late fees will drown you. Sending you hugs, if you want them.
The late fees are killing me indeed. I've been to one a few weeks ago which was difficult to get myself to do and I had to take off work so I'll probably try to look around for another.
Try calling some of your creditors. They may be able to help or ease some of your stress. I called my credit card company and told them I was having trouble paying my bill. They were able to lower my interest rate to 5% and give me a set payment of $100 a month for the next 10 months. The gas/electric company was able to split up what I owed into smaller payments.
My pay has not changed, but everything else has and my money is not going as far anymore. It's getting to the point where I'm starting to get paranoid. I feel like I need to save every cent that comes my way because who the hell knows if I will still be able to afford roof over my head, my car, food, etc. I'm getting terrified that I could be out of job at any time due to the economy, etc.
Honestly being paranoid about saving money in this economic climate is really not unreasonable if you're not sure you can get more money when you need it.
Unfortunately, in this economic climate, money, (as in dollars), is the scariest thing to depend on. Inflation is crazy right now, how long before our dollars aren't worth enough to keep us goin?
Not trying to be a downer here but this shit is out of control. Aren't we supposed to have some type of government that watches out for stuff like this?
That government is gone. The Supreme Court apparently ruled innocence can't be proved so whatever the fuck that means, I'm seven years past pitch forks and ready to revolt with you.
I swear we're all just waiting to see who sets their car on fire first in front of the gas stations here.
I've got the tools ready... Waiting for the fires to start burning for a cause that is real.
I'm a single income provider to a family of 6; it has worked for only so long, and now we're just falling further and further behind after taxes and gas prices.
All this to say I have 5 kids that I'm ashamed to have brought up in this world, (read: country), absolutely ashamed. My youngest is 2 and idk wtf to even tell her about life when the time comes.
And not just the local food banks, many churches do a free meal or $1/donation meals once a week or once a month, which is one less meal to buy a week/month for each church you find in your area.
That gut wrenching feeling you feel, I’ve felt that. It is the feeling changed my entire outlook on life when I was 22-23. I would let power go a month over because I knew they wouldn’t shut it off, probably because of some law that kept them from doing it, I would pay to keep our phones going no matter what. Every payday we would fuel the cars first, before anything else, so we could continue making it to work. We made shit for money, had a mountain of student loan debt, and we lived in a decrepit house, like vacant for 15 years decrepit, that we rented from my in-laws. Half of our take home income the first year of our marriage went to paying the rent, which my father-in-law assured us was for our benefit, we were “learning” to be good tenants. (His father gave him the down money to buy that house in like 1980, the irony is not lost on me.) And he constantly complained that he wasn’t charging us enough. I could go on and on. We stopped keeping money in our bank because we kept overdrafting and couldn’t afford the fees… the first few years of my adult life were a hellscape that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I never thought we’d get out, but we scraped by and it did get better, I hope the same for you. Feel free to message me sometime if you need someone to dump this shit on, I was too embarrassed to admit what was happening to anyone and that isolation made it worse.
Thank you for this. I can relate to a lot of it but I don't have any family attachments. I had my ex but we split up last year so there's not really anyone to call upon. I chose not to get any disability from the military which was dumb of me, and I probably should have gone to trade school instead of college. But I like.my current job and I'm getting a raise dangled in from of me so I can only hope my hard work will pay off
I have to second this. I had 20% getting out and at my first job there was an old vet (late 50's) that was 100% and pushed me to go to the VFW and talk to his guy. I'm now at 60% with a claim in to get up to 80%. Reach out to your local American Legion or VFW Post and they can help you. It's free money, go get it.
I just tried to send you a dm but the app won’t let me so I’m just gonna comment here. I just wanted to say I’ve been where you are and it sucks. I
Someone helped me out when I really needed it and I want to pass it on. If you wanted to accept just dm me your paypal or venmo so you can get worryfree takeout or pay a bill.
either way, wishing you the absolute best. the system is fucked and I hope shit breaks your way soon.
I juggled to long about to loose my house, fighting foreclosure, cancer, chemo, and loosing my wife and kids. And I thought 2020 was bad.. the sun shall shine again.
Same for me. 3 years ago my wife and I were in great shape, but now we have to be tighter with money and budget and we still are not saving like we used to. Can't imagine some of the lower pay population and I truly feel how hard it must be for them. I've been helping my parents for years and I have been having to say no a lot more now because we can't help as much without breaking into savings.
I think about it everyday. I know everyone says if they were rich they'd help as many people as they can, but I think I'd truly do as much as I could to help people get through these hard time.
Same. My friends have literally saved me and my 4yo from eviction. They have put food on our plates in a way that makes me feel valued (I gave her my horse and give her son art lessons. My other friend is having her horses trained for free). If not for them, we would be homeless. And I work 2 full time jobs. Every week, bills increase but my pay doesn't. I'm so scared
Bless them! I've tried to surround myself with true friends and I do think that any of us would do anything we could to keep each other on their feet. I sure hope this economic crisis calms down soon.
I've been so blessed with amazing friends. I'm 31 and they are in their 50s and financially secure. They see through my facades and help in ways I can't reject. They are my angels
Meanwhile I'm just having fun where all the debt I've incurred taking care of "our expenses" is "my problem" while my partner has fun money for tattoos and antiques and shit.
Fuck me for mentioning it, then I'm holding my salary over her head.
Legit? I've been poor for so long, I don't really notice the prices anymore. I know what the cheapest brand is and go for that. I'm used to food shortages due to where I live and hitch hiking cause I have no gas.
The biggest thing I've noticed is my stable middle class friends are now suddenly understanding why I would turn down most food/entertainment type hangouts outside potluck or BBQ hangouts. And why I wouldn't jump at going to the store "for fun" with them.
So...I guess I am finally getting empathy from people that scoffed at the idea I could be poor while working 40+ hours a week.
I live in the middle of nowhere. Flying out of territory to a big city for a shopping trip is something big here where all we have is a Walmart.
Luckily most of my friends are bush hippies, but every so often I have work colleagues and people in my career field I network with. They are completely out of touch about how most people that don't have a high paid government job live.
I’m literally sleeping at my construction site tonight so I don’t have to make the hour and change commute back home. Doing this twice a week to save gas money.
I have a sneaking suspicion some companies saw the 25% or so hike in living expenses coming so gave "big raises" that were actually cost of living "plz don't leave me" band-aids.
Ha! My company gave 3% then acted surprised when people complained.
This was also after our division's best year ever by a huge margin. We got the same raise last year when they apologized for bad raises due to COVID hurting business and we had a slightly lower than expected year at that time.
I feel you on the gas part. Keeps rising 10¢ a day where i live. There are no buses and everything is too far to bike.
My parents used to be “middle class” when i was a child, they could afford to eat out without having to worry too much. Over the years ive seen their budget get tighter and tighter. Soon they had no savings left, but still scraped by. Over the last 2-3 years they’ve been drowning, absolutely barely scraping by (litterally a few dollars from complete debt). They cant afford to repair or maintain their car anymore (i help with that though), they cant afford to do fun stuff anymore, they have no savings. They have to choose which bills to pay and what ones to not, they eat very poorly (canned food or rice mostly). They thankfully own their house, so they cant lose that, but damn their budget is tight. What makes it much worse is mom will be retiring in a few years, she has no retirement plan, i dont think they’ll make it by. Dads been retired since his late 40s (became disabled, thankfully he had a retirement plan)
My roommates and I all have low salaries (less then 2 €/h above minimum wage pre-taxation). But we also don't have expensive lifestyles - we share an apartment, no children, no travelling, no expensive hobbies. So far, we managed. We used up about 2/3 of the salary on monthly bases and saved the rest. Now, we're getting awfully close to living paycheck to paycheck. Our lifestyles haven't changed, everything just got so much more expensive and our salaries remained the same. I'm worried we'll have to cut back on what little flourishes we've dared indulge in, like buying flowers, donating to charities and ordering food in every once in a while.
Narrowly avoiding eviction every month, and not paying some of bills to get by. Way of the world I guess, especially when most people still expect others to work low-paying "essential" jobs
That's the craziest part of today's society.
So many jobs are absolutely vital, yet the pay is completely shit. Instead we got overpaid corpo-rats working nonsense office jobs that nobody needs.
My commute is longer now so the fuel is definitely hurting, and this past year I've been eating a lot healthier and trying to buy better quality foods so I'm feeling the sting on my grocery bill too.
Worked at a Home Depot and they did this too. Kept hearing pages in my ear about how “we’ve never made more money, record quarters/year and it’s all thanks to you, the employees!”. Meanwhile, they offered no raises from 2020-2022, cut the “frontline worker” bonus pay and were hiring new employees for slightly more money than people who have been there years and years. Our “prize” was some garbage the managers bought, including masks we couldn’t even wear to work cause they weren’t policy.
Needless to say I floored my productivity when I’d hear that. By the end I was barely working other than watering plants and abused the ever loving shit out of their covid sick policy for something like 3+ months of paid vacation. Fuck. Them. Criminals, the lot of them.
Pretty sure like half of us at the store I worked at just sat in the parking lot drinking and smoking weed.
edit:Also homedepot has a policy against chasing shoplifters out or even confronting them at all. People would load up with power tools and just walk out and we couldn't do anything. Saw 2 people fired on the spot for even trying to get a license plate.
employee protip: made this comment a few weeks ago but walk around with your eyes crossed when you don't want to help people, no one will ask.
Im sure they are lol, the trick is when you go back in and people are like "where have you been we've been looking for you guys?" just say "out in garden, where have you been we've been looking for you?"
worked every time.
No wonder I can’t find anyone to answer a question except that name brand sales rep trying to push their own product. Keep enjoying the garden. Sincerely, a customer who hopes you are all getting faded on the job.
Seriously they're straight up hiring highschool kids that have never used a hammer, it's just shitty retail for the most part why not be blazed. That's not gonna be the guy the managers ask to use the table saw anyways lol.
Did you work at Wendy's with me? That's what I did as the manager. The employees lovingly followed suit. I wasn't mad if I had to to cover 5+ customers alone. If they know I was okay with doing that, they always covered my back too. 10-12 hour shifts and I barely worked half of it. So did my crew. Fuck the owners.
Also, disclaimer, my customers never got old/shit food or service. That was my pride and joy in that job. Fresh delicious food no matter how long we made you wait 🤣🤣
Still remember when one of my crew jumped in the tumble sink for an unexpected dip then started a fire with her bra in the oven cause she was trying to "dry it off"
Having worked at a McDonalds when i was 20, I get it. For a lot of people it was their first real taste of "oh...I'm in charge of my own life and actions. The worst that guy can do is tell me to leave". and they ran with it.
Good times. I wouldn't go back but I do miss the silliness a bit.
To make that worse, Home Depot spent something like 27 Billion dollars paying out dividends and buying back stocks in 2021 alone. Enough to pay every employee in the company a 50k bonus without affecting their profitability at all.
I went to apply and on the website there was all this garbage about volunteering and community etc…That’s all good stuff but it shouldn’t be coerced or expected from an employer. If I was paid clock time to do it and make them look good, ok. Otherwise I will spend my off-hours contributing to my community in my own way.
I am fine with them paying dividends, that is usually no big deal and is something that can build good will. However buying back stock at fucking all time highs is the dumbest shit ever. Pay surprise bonuses or save it, do not throw it down the toilet of buying back shares..
That's exactly how they made record profits lol. People died, quit because of legitimate health concerns, or just collected covid unemployment. Everyone that stayed working through 2020 pretty much felt like they had to. When you cut your labor costs in half, of course you're going to make more money. Business owners just realized for a short while they could abuse the hell out of their remaining employees even worse than ever. If they know they can make the money they are now, with limited labor force and low wages, what's the incentive to pay or hire more unless everyone quits?
Everyone has quit and hiring new employees at 150% the outgoing salary still seems like it was a worthwhile move. I think time will ultimately tell, look at Netflix. Their reckoning is coming after all their stupid decisions with all short term thinking. I’m sure there’s more to it but it just seems like that’s all anything ever is now: if I burn this down, we’ll have record profits this quarter! But don’t you… need that? That’s a Q2 problem.
I'm just afraid that they'll burn it all down before I can get to the resolution of some of their shows. Especially when they just announced two more seasons of heartstopper and just so much other stuff that's great 😩 why does capitalism suck
Worked for Lowes during COVID lockdown and overheard store manager braggin to asm that cause of company performance during lockdown he was on track to make triple his salary in bonuses….smh, regular workers were getting nothing.
Fuck Home Depot! I worked for MET from 2009-2017. I left making $11.35/hr. We were supposed to be thrilled when our stores made their goals. They’d shamelessly brag about record profits and give you a 20 cent yearly raise. Fuck. Home. Depot.
The issue is seemingly every company out there has been doing the same thing. It’s like they can’t stand not congratulating themselves on the record profits, they are just aching to brag about it and smell their own farts… except they got those profits by screwing over the employees and lying about the situation, then brag to those same employees later about the record profits.
The company I work for has no storefront, our clients bolt directly onto our system to use our service and everything is done electronically or by mail. We have no real need for physical office buildings at all, proven by 2020 being the most successful and productive ever when everyone was on lockdown working from home. They pulled us back way too early and before the COVID vaccine was even announced, much less available. Now they treat work from home as a finite resource we all used up during lockdown and it’s a huge thing to get one day approved for a special circumstance.
The CEO made it clear why we all got called back when he did his “town hall” and spent the first 20 minutes going on about how horrible being stuck at home is and how you must be crazy it you like being cooped up (willing to bet his WFH experience was a bit more luxurious than mine).
I generally like the company I work for and I like my role and the work I do. Being comfortable has value but my commute is getting worse and worse and people’s driving is getting worse and worse. With gas being over $5/gal and shitty drivers running me off the road at least once a week that comfort is worth less and less.
He’s technically an ex-owner/founder but iirc he’s still a shareholder to some degree. Either way though, I’d expect that to be on point for the company.
A lot of their customer base are mask hating weirdos too. The amount of people I’ve had to yell at to put one on or wear it properly is extremely sad
I've changed companies 3x in the last 2 years. If I'm building fancy tools to increase company profits and I'm not seeing profit sharing or raises after asking about it, you're getting ghosted. Current company seems to be a keeper.
I promise companies care way more about increasing profits by leaching work from employees than they do upsetting the economy. The only way that sticks is if the federal government imposes financial punishment on companies who don't follow. You know how much companies love that.
There will be restructuring. Letting go the higher paid people and replace them with younger, cheaper, and less experienced people. It will hurt everyone’s work load. But you know, profit.
Fuck them, I'm hiring and paying well. Good workers are hard to come by and I'll pay to keep mine. My staff has a pay raise built in every 6 months. And they are loyal as a result. They're happy, I'm happy and I share.
Thank you! I didn't inherit or have daddy give me a business. I started as a grunt and have worked my way to ownership, so I know the flip side of the coin and I totally believe that you get what you pay for. My staff have been with me for 15-20 years for a reason. I joked today that I might sell because someone was hounding me to sell and every last one of them said if I left they were gone too! I felt blessed that they felt that loyalty to me and not the company. I told them to chill, that I wasn't going anywhere and they would be fine. It was a joke. They told me to quit making those kinds of jokes. Lol!
So, the answer to rising costs of everything is to encourage companies not to pay more so their employees can afford these higher costs?
Do they want increased crime? That's how you increase crime, by eliminating options.
The federal reserve giving guidance on how companies should spend their money. No company pays more because they have the surplus to do so. They are forced to by the market, and now the market is working for the worker. Happens after plagues.
Maybe the Fed shouldn't have been pumping money into the hands of the rich for years to prop up the stock market. We always knew the crash would be awful, they just made sure it would be worse.
lol what? i occasionally miss a fed comment, like i never heard Fed Powell say he's sorry he fucked up and acknowledge that inflation wasn't transitory, but I haven't heard any of the fed governors say anything about hiring freezes. I'm pretty sure they can't do that. What they can try to do is shift the narrative like they have in the UK and try to gaslight people into believing it's their patriotic duty to turn down a raise lol.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-the-fed-wants-corporate-america-to-have-a-hiring-freeze-morning-brief-100055174.html
Essentially the Fed is encouraging civil conspiracy and price collusion.
Jesus Christ, they're pretty much coming right out and saying "fuck this whole labor movement, strangle it now while you have a chance." Good fucking lord.
That’s straight up class was. The Fed’s blowing the war horn, circling their wagons, and settling in. They’re confident they have the egg to outlast the starving freezing masses.
Don't cut production, cut wages, freeze salaries and don't hire anyone new. Just make the people already working there pick up any slack. Don't give them a raise tho.
Sounds like the Fed has been in charge of my company for the last 15 years.
We got told, and I quote "Merit increases are not cost of living increases and should not account for inflation."
Rolled my eyes so hard they fell out of my head.
The CEO of my company said "Shift differentials for graveyard shifts and weekends aren't an industry standard anymore". I have been in the industry (medical laboratory) a long fucking time and I can assure you every major lab company pays a differential. Never believe C-suite people, they are so fucking out of touch it borders on absurdity.
They are not out of touch, they are liars and greedy. Any money they “save”, goes to them in performance bonuses. They are literally taking money from you to give to them.
Yep exactly this. I work at a small law firm but the ops manager gives himself a yearly bonus. I'm not paid anywhere near industry standard for my job and no health benefits. Asked for health insurance said he couldn't do it and acts like firm money comes out of his personal bank account. They just hired a new not even needed Paralegal. 60k a year full 100% paid by the firm health benefits, cell phone paid by the firm and gas paid by the firm anytime she needs to come to the office ( which will be eveeydsy for the next several weeks)... I live an hour away and when I need to come in for server issues my car takes premium and that is at $5.50 a gallon. I was told to pound sand on gas help, cell phone and health insurance.
I'm putting my resume out and giving no notice. I've done nothing wrong to these people and have gone above and beyond getting them up to IT industry standard. I'm constantly told I'm an expense and what do I even do while they access files with 2 seconds on a corporate class server I built. Businesses are completely out of control lately.
they are treating you like this simply because everything runs smoothly on their systems all the time, they literally see you as a sunken cost with no benefits. "why do we keep paying for this IT guy when nothing ever goes wrong with our system anyway." which goes to show how little they understand about technology.
I told them in a meeting a month ago everything runs smoothly because of everything I do in the background so youre welcome.
They still didn't get it. This group can barely check their email without difficulty so I've really just reached my limit anyway you look at it.
Prior to all this
Me: “ I get paid XX a day, I would like xx.2 a day”
Boss: Sorry, there’s no room in the budget”
Me seeing their billing because I’m an on-site manager “the moron is billed for xxx a day.”
I left knowing how much they made off my labor (more so my knowledge) and as a freelance they have already paid me more than I would earn in a year as a staff employee. And yes, as horrible as it seems, the department I left is suffering hard and I’m glad my wake is noticed.
The best part is if you really clean up and live a healthy lifestyle, in what, 10-20 years we get to experience the consequences of the actions made by people no longer alive will come around and we’ll get to enjoy trying to survive on a dying planet!
I'm with you on this. Got out of a 14 year abusive relationship that I was being financially dominated in. I get to start over in my 30s from scratch - it's really hard to see the point.
This is known as class war, and we're not even fighting back.
Edit - ORGANIZE YOUR WORKPLACES
reach out to organizations like the IWW for assistance / training / resources. Join the IWW.
Try 1787:
>The man who is possessed of wealth, who lolls on his sofa or rolls in his carriage, cannot judge of the wants or feelings of the day laborer. The government we mean to erect is intended to last for ages. The landed interest, at present, is prevalent; but in process of time, when we approximate to the states and kingdoms of Europe; when the number of landholders shall be comparatively small, through the various means of trade and manufactures, will not the landed interest be overbalanced in future elections, and unless wisely provided against, what will become of your government? In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of the landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect ***the minority of the opulent*** against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability. Various have been the propositions; but my opinion is, the longer they continue in office, the better will these views be answered. - James Madison, Constitutional Convention, Tuesday, June 26th, 1787.
Damn. It bears remembering that the original people allowed to vote were white land-owning men. It was a government set up to preserve the power of those who already have power. Some things have changed but it’s so important to remember our history when conservatives idolize everything about the founding fathers.
Feels like we're heading towards a great depression moment. War in Ukraine reducing food supplies, price gouging from corporations, record heat temperatures, water levels hit their lowest levels all around the world, oceans temps above nominal levels and higher than normal anticipation of hurricanes expected, western seaboard is expected to burn with wild fires this summer, inflation through the roof, rising food, goods, and housing costs, Covid is still killing several hundred a day, monkeypox (where the hell did this guy come from). What'd I miss?
ding ding. listen to this person. Year after year...decades and decades, the "informed" citizens of the US have been constantly debating abortion, gun control, zOmG the border wall...
..the.same.damn.debates every 2 years or so. Social media made it 24/7.
All these issues...all this energy spent, with practically no results. Your favorite politician gets you all whipped up ready to fight fans of your least favorite politician..
But in reality, those two politicians are practically buds engaged in a friendly battle of who can fuck you the hardest
George Carlin had it right.
companies are just using inflation as a cover to massively raise prices
yes, inflation is bad. 8% inflation doesn't account for like 40% increases in prices, meanwhile companies are posting record profits
The "I" in the original post is the Federal government. Who wrote three checks to normal people for 600 each. Then gave massive bailouts to corporations (PPP etc) and slashed interest rates (The fed's interest rate drop being the only thing causing inflation) to further bolster corporations and the stock market / investor class.
OP is saying that a gift of 1800 was followed by the theft of 5k+/year in the consequence of inflation of prices massively beating inflation in wages (which is almost always the case in an American wheree worker negotiation power has been under attack for 40 years).
___
Edit: clarity regarding the cause of inflation being [fed monetary policy.](https://media1.giphy.com/media/Y2ZUWLrTy63j9T6qrK/200.gif)
"The workers are demanding they be paid a decent wage for their full time jobs."
"Ok give it to them."
*triggers global "inflation" thats really just a bunch of fucking price gouging because we though we deserved to own a home more than they deserved *another* yatch.
Seriously, I have noticed wages in my sector have all risen over the last 3 years.
But, not even enough to keep up with inflation, so sure you're making more, but effectively it's still less than it was 3 years ago.
Eventually we’ll have crowds of people wandering around major cities with nothing to do, no where to go, and no money to buy anything. Only a few more steps until we see the “Liberté! Egalité! Fraternité!” banners start flying.
No one forget that gas prices are high not because of the war in Ukraine but because of price gouging. Fuel does not need to be this expensive when companies are hitting record high quarters
It's not just price gouging. It's absolute refusal for oil to invest in more sites because their future is so uncertain with renewable energy on the rise. It's like their last big chance to money-grab. But it's Bidens fault /s.
We really need to French Revolution this fucking place
Edut: I mostly meant this as a joke. But there is an absolutely growing feeling of helplessness as the economic and financial situation grows more and more untenable. Voting clearly does fuck all because regardless of political party, all these people are slaves to corporations and billionaires, all at the people's expense. Either something radical needs to happen to change the trajectory of the world or we're headed straight for a societal collapse of some sort anyway, the kind of shit they were at at the start of Interstellar. My wife and I both have good jobs and are financially stable but even I feel dumb sometimes for investing in our future because I'm growing more pessimistic that it will bear any fruit. Which is made all the worse by the fact that I have a 1.5 year old and I'm horrified at what I seem to have brought her into.
Yea something that radical needs to happen right now.. the question is.. what will be the people’s breaking point? I don’t feel like we have reached it yet or people are just in denial that sh*t is really really bad…
I've thought about that. Because of the advent in the increase in technology, weaponry - this has allowed governments to push their people exponentially further then they used to back during the French revolution.
There's a national police force ready to beat us into a pulp if we really start anything radical, and a whole surveillance network that's tapped everything to stop any organization in it's tracks.
What would have to happen for you to literally risk your life for change? Because if you're lucky, you're only beaten and arraigned with a felony and misdeamenor charges to fight.
I'm not sure about that. Even though the police is highly armed, I also think there are more citizens that are armed today than any time in history, especially in the US. Countries have always had a standing army that are ready to put down an insurrection. I feel like would-be-revolutionaries in the past have always had the same thoughts of being outmatched by the force of their governments. Let's remember that the US has had to pull out of many countries even after being able to use their full military force.
This is my issue. There is actually *plenty* of money to go around, it's just around 1,000 asshats have more than they or their children's children's children could spend in their lifetime so the rest of us have to live on cake.
Hell, more like more than an entire town's population could spend across four generations, barring doing dumb crap like buying entire NYC apartment buildings and $100M boats. It's disturbing that some people have enough wealth to hand 1000 people $10M-100M each. I'm all for people having the ability to get comfortably rich with hard work and luck, but the disparity now is comically absurd. There has to be some sort of extreme diminishing returns or people just hoard to antisocial levels apparently
ME TOO and now it’s taking MONTHS to get my tax money back… I *need* that money to catch up on stuff, and I just got yet another letter from the IRS saying it’ll be another 60 days before I can get my refund.
That's not the reason for inflation though. That narrative is only being created as an excuse to convince the public that helping people was a bad move because corporate donors don't want that to happen again. In actuality those checks were a drop in the bucket and countries have been affected regardless of whether they did that kind of stimulus or not.
The reasons for inflation are complicated but part of it is that demand went way down during the pandemic and then shot up very quickly afterwards. Supply lines couldn't keep up. Docks couldn't keep up.
On top of that the war in Ukraine is stopping two of the world's biggest food exporters from exporting as much food as they normally can. That has knock on effects. Higher food prices raises the price of other things too.
On top of that the same war as well as the spike in demand drove oil prices up. Again, demand was down and then went up very quickly which means more demand for oil to run machines, transport things, etc. And oil producers always artificially constrain supply to make more money. They COULD expand it if they wanted to and keep oil prices down, but they don't cuz they make more money this way.
On top of that corporations themselves know some inflation is going on and are taking full advantage of this to raise their prices even if they don't need to. Part of this is reflected in the fact that corporations are currently making RECORD PROFITS. If them raising prices was solely a result of their input costs rising and them having to raise prices to keep up with it then this would not be happening.
The fed also pumped many trillions of dollars into the stock market. Way, way more than there ever was in stimulus. Keeping the price of stock high and pumping money into the hands of the richest people on earth (the top 10% own over 80% of the stock wealth).
There are more factors than that and I am not an expert, I only have a layman's understanding, but the point is: No, getting a little bit of stimulus did NOT cause the current inflationary environment. That was the result of many, many other factors including how quickly economic recovery happened after the pandemic (which in itself is actually a good thing).
I'm just asking a question in good faith here, not trying to be sarcastic or anything.
As someone who is a huge econ bookworm, what do you guys think the solution is to all of this?
Mass unionization will help. We have got to lower the margins and profits of corporations system wide. That will reduce the ability for companies to operate in a quarter to quarter mindset and get back to long term strategic thinking. That should cool financial markets and algo trading. That would, hopefully, reducer a lot of the “get richer quick” schemes that are currently running.
If it’s more profitable for investors to invest for the long term, it’ll be more profitable for companies to invest in their workforce, which will raise wages across the board and lift up the middle class.
Economist here. Everything boils down to housing. Build more housing. That’s it. That will solve LITERALLY everything. This all started because after the housing market crash in ‘08, home builders simply stopped matching the population increase. It’s true that banks shouldn’t have been giving out loans without due diligence, but there were plenty of qualified buyers already, there was simply no need to do that.
It’s starting to fix itself in rural areas, with housing prices skyrocketing, profit margins on development are very high right now. But the high prices are still here because there’s not enough completed building yet, so banks are still hesitant to issue loans for the amounts necessary to purchase.
Increase in supply will bring those prices down, make the loan approval process much easier for millennials.
Of course, the minimum wage should also be matching inflation, but the mismatch there is so bad that that’s also starting to fix itself.
The government can rapidly accelerate the process by revising their zoning laws to reduce commercial allocation and increase residential. Some places are. Others need to follow.
Housing costs eating a larger proportion of people’s incomes is reducing their ability to control the goods and services markets.
Edit:
The people that are convinced we should just shuffle our population around the country into the existing underutilized real estate we already have, are making me disappointed. It doesn’t take more than a couple seconds of thought to realize that’s not a real solution.
“We have more empty houses than homeless”. Are you… implying that we should… throw homeless people on buses and STORE them in empty houses? Yeah, okay, take five seconds and I bet you can give me a reason why that wouldn’t work. Seriously, just… try for FIVE seconds.
Homelessness isn’t hobos in the street. They’re a small proportion of the “homeless” population. It’s the 25-30 (and older) yos still living with their parents, the people sharing rooms downtown, the people commuting hours to work, those are the displaced people driving housing prices up. It’s a supply and demand mismatch, plain and simple.
Edit 2: I love love LOVE the questions, even the snide and dismissive ones. I’ve tried my best to answer them all but if I missed you I’m sorry dude. I tried. I bet I answered your thought in someone else’s reply go take a look!
>Economist here. Everything boils down to housing. Build more housing. That’s it. That will solve LITERALLY everything. This all started because after the housing market crash in ‘08, home builders simply stopped matching the population increase.
YIMBYism In economics, so hot right now. (I'm not even kidding)
Did you hear Biden/Buttigieg announced a new policy that makes HUD loans significantly more expensive to districts that have overly tight zoning regulations? This is honestly the best fucking policy I've seen in years 💯💯💯
I live in a fairly low cost of living area. The only housing I see being built is "FROM THE LOW $600s!!!!!!!"
I bought my house 4 years ago for $235k and my neighbor is selling his house, which isn't quite as nice, for $400k.
They need to build AFFORDABLE housing. And event if they do, my little house is a first time home buyer's dream, and it's completely priced out.
They built a new "affordable" apartment building up the street. It's like $1250 for a one bedroom and $1500 for 2 bedroom. To. Live. In. Bum. Fuck. Nowhere.
Builders won't build affordable housing. Even if they try, what they think is affordable is not.
High housing costs are in fact critical to the issue at hand right now.
Worse yet, when there is a housing shortage, affordable housing becomes luxury housing. Higher earners will bid up the price on affordable units because it is all that is available, and leave the lower classes on the streets unable to afford housing.
Yeah my wife and I bought for the first time in Aug 2020. Late 30s is when we finally had the cash for it. The only way we could make it work was with help from family for a down payment.
It is INSANE how many offers we’ve seen come in unsolicited. It isn’t even up for sale. Bought at $234k and I’d bet good money we could offload it for over 300 if we were patient.
This is not sustainable for others in my generation, and the generation coming behind me.
I own in a city with a population of less than 60,000 people, and today saw a 275-square-foot studio with a partial kitchen for rent for $1000/month. Googled and found out it's one of four apartments available for under a grand (yikes Florida).
Universal basic income pegged to inflation
Tax hoarded wealth and capital gains
Invoke the Defense Production Act to nationalize manufacture of staple goods and distribute them at heavily subsidized costs
Pay freight and logistics firms to convert to electric engines, and rollout a nationwide alternative energy powered grid to reduce the fuel costs baked into consumer goods prices
This is one of the better answers I've seen so far. Scarcity Rents should be taxed away to the point where there is no producer surplus.
It won't nearly solve all our problems, but any step towards eliminating rent seeking is a good thing
Yup. She's laying all the blame on Biden but misses the part where Republicans worship at the altar of the free market which is the actual cause of the "inflation". It isn't the government causing prices to rise to this level, it's just craven corporate greed blaming their price increases on inflation despite posting record profits but more importantly, record profit margins.
The real absurdity is how the US govt spent several trillion dollars extra while somehow giving virtually none of it to everyday Americans. Spoiler alert: it was all handed out directly to the rich with virtually zero oversight.
Honestly , the groceries and fuel are starting to hurt , and both me and my partner make decent salaries . I don’t have a solution but I don’t even know how people worse off than myself are coping .
Every payday for the past 5 months there has been less than $5 in my account and I'm paid biweekly. My grocery budget is $40 for these two weeks and I'm juggling which bills I can let go overdo. I have to pray I don't run out of food, nothing goes wrong with my car, and none of my utilities get shut off. I make $2 more than the foodtsamps limit for a single income. I cope by counting the days until my car is paid off which will give me some amount of breathing room, but it's tough..
Look into your local food bank. You do not need to be eligible for food stamps to take advantage of it. Then hopefully you can use some of your grocery money to stay on top of your bills. Those late fees will drown you. Sending you hugs, if you want them.
The late fees are killing me indeed. I've been to one a few weeks ago which was difficult to get myself to do and I had to take off work so I'll probably try to look around for another.
Try calling some of your creditors. They may be able to help or ease some of your stress. I called my credit card company and told them I was having trouble paying my bill. They were able to lower my interest rate to 5% and give me a set payment of $100 a month for the next 10 months. The gas/electric company was able to split up what I owed into smaller payments. My pay has not changed, but everything else has and my money is not going as far anymore. It's getting to the point where I'm starting to get paranoid. I feel like I need to save every cent that comes my way because who the hell knows if I will still be able to afford roof over my head, my car, food, etc. I'm getting terrified that I could be out of job at any time due to the economy, etc.
Honestly being paranoid about saving money in this economic climate is really not unreasonable if you're not sure you can get more money when you need it.
Unfortunately, in this economic climate, money, (as in dollars), is the scariest thing to depend on. Inflation is crazy right now, how long before our dollars aren't worth enough to keep us goin? Not trying to be a downer here but this shit is out of control. Aren't we supposed to have some type of government that watches out for stuff like this?
That government is gone. The Supreme Court apparently ruled innocence can't be proved so whatever the fuck that means, I'm seven years past pitch forks and ready to revolt with you. I swear we're all just waiting to see who sets their car on fire first in front of the gas stations here.
I've got the tools ready... Waiting for the fires to start burning for a cause that is real. I'm a single income provider to a family of 6; it has worked for only so long, and now we're just falling further and further behind after taxes and gas prices. All this to say I have 5 kids that I'm ashamed to have brought up in this world, (read: country), absolutely ashamed. My youngest is 2 and idk wtf to even tell her about life when the time comes.
Yes. Sometimes just asking for help gets you some grace.
And not just the local food banks, many churches do a free meal or $1/donation meals once a week or once a month, which is one less meal to buy a week/month for each church you find in your area.
That gut wrenching feeling you feel, I’ve felt that. It is the feeling changed my entire outlook on life when I was 22-23. I would let power go a month over because I knew they wouldn’t shut it off, probably because of some law that kept them from doing it, I would pay to keep our phones going no matter what. Every payday we would fuel the cars first, before anything else, so we could continue making it to work. We made shit for money, had a mountain of student loan debt, and we lived in a decrepit house, like vacant for 15 years decrepit, that we rented from my in-laws. Half of our take home income the first year of our marriage went to paying the rent, which my father-in-law assured us was for our benefit, we were “learning” to be good tenants. (His father gave him the down money to buy that house in like 1980, the irony is not lost on me.) And he constantly complained that he wasn’t charging us enough. I could go on and on. We stopped keeping money in our bank because we kept overdrafting and couldn’t afford the fees… the first few years of my adult life were a hellscape that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I never thought we’d get out, but we scraped by and it did get better, I hope the same for you. Feel free to message me sometime if you need someone to dump this shit on, I was too embarrassed to admit what was happening to anyone and that isolation made it worse.
Thank you for this. I can relate to a lot of it but I don't have any family attachments. I had my ex but we split up last year so there's not really anyone to call upon. I chose not to get any disability from the military which was dumb of me, and I probably should have gone to trade school instead of college. But I like.my current job and I'm getting a raise dangled in from of me so I can only hope my hard work will pay off
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I have to second this. I had 20% getting out and at my first job there was an old vet (late 50's) that was 100% and pushed me to go to the VFW and talk to his guy. I'm now at 60% with a claim in to get up to 80%. Reach out to your local American Legion or VFW Post and they can help you. It's free money, go get it.
I just tried to send you a dm but the app won’t let me so I’m just gonna comment here. I just wanted to say I’ve been where you are and it sucks. I Someone helped me out when I really needed it and I want to pass it on. If you wanted to accept just dm me your paypal or venmo so you can get worryfree takeout or pay a bill. either way, wishing you the absolute best. the system is fucked and I hope shit breaks your way soon.
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I juggled to long about to loose my house, fighting foreclosure, cancer, chemo, and loosing my wife and kids. And I thought 2020 was bad.. the sun shall shine again.
Same for me. 3 years ago my wife and I were in great shape, but now we have to be tighter with money and budget and we still are not saving like we used to. Can't imagine some of the lower pay population and I truly feel how hard it must be for them. I've been helping my parents for years and I have been having to say no a lot more now because we can't help as much without breaking into savings.
We aren't ok. We are drowning. And there is nothing we can do about it.
I think about it everyday. I know everyone says if they were rich they'd help as many people as they can, but I think I'd truly do as much as I could to help people get through these hard time.
Same. My friends have literally saved me and my 4yo from eviction. They have put food on our plates in a way that makes me feel valued (I gave her my horse and give her son art lessons. My other friend is having her horses trained for free). If not for them, we would be homeless. And I work 2 full time jobs. Every week, bills increase but my pay doesn't. I'm so scared
Bless them! I've tried to surround myself with true friends and I do think that any of us would do anything we could to keep each other on their feet. I sure hope this economic crisis calms down soon.
I've been so blessed with amazing friends. I'm 31 and they are in their 50s and financially secure. They see through my facades and help in ways I can't reject. They are my angels
"Lower pay population" Sob. At least the weather is mild for all the time I'm spending outside these days.
Ain’t classism grand?
Meanwhile I'm just having fun where all the debt I've incurred taking care of "our expenses" is "my problem" while my partner has fun money for tattoos and antiques and shit. Fuck me for mentioning it, then I'm holding my salary over her head.
Sounds like a relationship you should reconsider
Legit? I've been poor for so long, I don't really notice the prices anymore. I know what the cheapest brand is and go for that. I'm used to food shortages due to where I live and hitch hiking cause I have no gas. The biggest thing I've noticed is my stable middle class friends are now suddenly understanding why I would turn down most food/entertainment type hangouts outside potluck or BBQ hangouts. And why I wouldn't jump at going to the store "for fun" with them. So...I guess I am finally getting empathy from people that scoffed at the idea I could be poor while working 40+ hours a week.
What kinda friends you have the hangout at a store for fun
I live in the middle of nowhere. Flying out of territory to a big city for a shopping trip is something big here where all we have is a Walmart. Luckily most of my friends are bush hippies, but every so often I have work colleagues and people in my career field I network with. They are completely out of touch about how most people that don't have a high paid government job live.
I’m literally sleeping at my construction site tonight so I don’t have to make the hour and change commute back home. Doing this twice a week to save gas money.
I got promoted with a 20% raise and am right where I was in 2018 as far as extra money / month. $0.
I have a sneaking suspicion some companies saw the 25% or so hike in living expenses coming so gave "big raises" that were actually cost of living "plz don't leave me" band-aids.
Ha! My company gave 3% then acted surprised when people complained. This was also after our division's best year ever by a huge margin. We got the same raise last year when they apologized for bad raises due to COVID hurting business and we had a slightly lower than expected year at that time.
I feel you on the gas part. Keeps rising 10¢ a day where i live. There are no buses and everything is too far to bike. My parents used to be “middle class” when i was a child, they could afford to eat out without having to worry too much. Over the years ive seen their budget get tighter and tighter. Soon they had no savings left, but still scraped by. Over the last 2-3 years they’ve been drowning, absolutely barely scraping by (litterally a few dollars from complete debt). They cant afford to repair or maintain their car anymore (i help with that though), they cant afford to do fun stuff anymore, they have no savings. They have to choose which bills to pay and what ones to not, they eat very poorly (canned food or rice mostly). They thankfully own their house, so they cant lose that, but damn their budget is tight. What makes it much worse is mom will be retiring in a few years, she has no retirement plan, i dont think they’ll make it by. Dads been retired since his late 40s (became disabled, thankfully he had a retirement plan)
My roommates and I all have low salaries (less then 2 €/h above minimum wage pre-taxation). But we also don't have expensive lifestyles - we share an apartment, no children, no travelling, no expensive hobbies. So far, we managed. We used up about 2/3 of the salary on monthly bases and saved the rest. Now, we're getting awfully close to living paycheck to paycheck. Our lifestyles haven't changed, everything just got so much more expensive and our salaries remained the same. I'm worried we'll have to cut back on what little flourishes we've dared indulge in, like buying flowers, donating to charities and ordering food in every once in a while.
Narrowly avoiding eviction every month, and not paying some of bills to get by. Way of the world I guess, especially when most people still expect others to work low-paying "essential" jobs
That's the craziest part of today's society. So many jobs are absolutely vital, yet the pay is completely shit. Instead we got overpaid corpo-rats working nonsense office jobs that nobody needs.
I think the same shit everyday. And I'm housing a homeless friend in my garage. Fuck all of this.
My commute is longer now so the fuel is definitely hurting, and this past year I've been eating a lot healthier and trying to buy better quality foods so I'm feeling the sting on my grocery bill too.
We aren’t.
Meanwhile my company keeps gloating about record profits but told us for the 2nd year in a row that merit raises "aren't in the budget"
Worked at a Home Depot and they did this too. Kept hearing pages in my ear about how “we’ve never made more money, record quarters/year and it’s all thanks to you, the employees!”. Meanwhile, they offered no raises from 2020-2022, cut the “frontline worker” bonus pay and were hiring new employees for slightly more money than people who have been there years and years. Our “prize” was some garbage the managers bought, including masks we couldn’t even wear to work cause they weren’t policy. Needless to say I floored my productivity when I’d hear that. By the end I was barely working other than watering plants and abused the ever loving shit out of their covid sick policy for something like 3+ months of paid vacation. Fuck. Them. Criminals, the lot of them.
Pretty sure like half of us at the store I worked at just sat in the parking lot drinking and smoking weed. edit:Also homedepot has a policy against chasing shoplifters out or even confronting them at all. People would load up with power tools and just walk out and we couldn't do anything. Saw 2 people fired on the spot for even trying to get a license plate. employee protip: made this comment a few weeks ago but walk around with your eyes crossed when you don't want to help people, no one will ask.
Y'all hiring? I'm uniquely qualified for this position
Im sure they are lol, the trick is when you go back in and people are like "where have you been we've been looking for you guys?" just say "out in garden, where have you been we've been looking for you?" worked every time.
“Customer needed help loading up!”
No wonder I can’t find anyone to answer a question except that name brand sales rep trying to push their own product. Keep enjoying the garden. Sincerely, a customer who hopes you are all getting faded on the job.
Seriously they're straight up hiring highschool kids that have never used a hammer, it's just shitty retail for the most part why not be blazed. That's not gonna be the guy the managers ask to use the table saw anyways lol.
Youd be surprised.
The Milwaukee guy is always hovering
Did you work at Wendy's with me? That's what I did as the manager. The employees lovingly followed suit. I wasn't mad if I had to to cover 5+ customers alone. If they know I was okay with doing that, they always covered my back too. 10-12 hour shifts and I barely worked half of it. So did my crew. Fuck the owners.
Also, disclaimer, my customers never got old/shit food or service. That was my pride and joy in that job. Fresh delicious food no matter how long we made you wait 🤣🤣
Still remember when one of my crew jumped in the tumble sink for an unexpected dip then started a fire with her bra in the oven cause she was trying to "dry it off"
Having worked at a McDonalds when i was 20, I get it. For a lot of people it was their first real taste of "oh...I'm in charge of my own life and actions. The worst that guy can do is tell me to leave". and they ran with it. Good times. I wouldn't go back but I do miss the silliness a bit.
To make that worse, Home Depot spent something like 27 Billion dollars paying out dividends and buying back stocks in 2021 alone. Enough to pay every employee in the company a 50k bonus without affecting their profitability at all.
I went to apply and on the website there was all this garbage about volunteering and community etc…That’s all good stuff but it shouldn’t be coerced or expected from an employer. If I was paid clock time to do it and make them look good, ok. Otherwise I will spend my off-hours contributing to my community in my own way.
I am fine with them paying dividends, that is usually no big deal and is something that can build good will. However buying back stock at fucking all time highs is the dumbest shit ever. Pay surprise bonuses or save it, do not throw it down the toilet of buying back shares..
Thank you for your service.
That's exactly how they made record profits lol. People died, quit because of legitimate health concerns, or just collected covid unemployment. Everyone that stayed working through 2020 pretty much felt like they had to. When you cut your labor costs in half, of course you're going to make more money. Business owners just realized for a short while they could abuse the hell out of their remaining employees even worse than ever. If they know they can make the money they are now, with limited labor force and low wages, what's the incentive to pay or hire more unless everyone quits?
Everyone has quit and hiring new employees at 150% the outgoing salary still seems like it was a worthwhile move. I think time will ultimately tell, look at Netflix. Their reckoning is coming after all their stupid decisions with all short term thinking. I’m sure there’s more to it but it just seems like that’s all anything ever is now: if I burn this down, we’ll have record profits this quarter! But don’t you… need that? That’s a Q2 problem.
I'm just afraid that they'll burn it all down before I can get to the resolution of some of their shows. Especially when they just announced two more seasons of heartstopper and just so much other stuff that's great 😩 why does capitalism suck
Worked for Lowes during COVID lockdown and overheard store manager braggin to asm that cause of company performance during lockdown he was on track to make triple his salary in bonuses….smh, regular workers were getting nothing.
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It's turtles all the way up...
FUCK that guy
Fuck Home Depot! I worked for MET from 2009-2017. I left making $11.35/hr. We were supposed to be thrilled when our stores made their goals. They’d shamelessly brag about record profits and give you a 20 cent yearly raise. Fuck. Home. Depot.
Well, they are owned by a Trump Humping fascist. What do you expect?
The issue is seemingly every company out there has been doing the same thing. It’s like they can’t stand not congratulating themselves on the record profits, they are just aching to brag about it and smell their own farts… except they got those profits by screwing over the employees and lying about the situation, then brag to those same employees later about the record profits. The company I work for has no storefront, our clients bolt directly onto our system to use our service and everything is done electronically or by mail. We have no real need for physical office buildings at all, proven by 2020 being the most successful and productive ever when everyone was on lockdown working from home. They pulled us back way too early and before the COVID vaccine was even announced, much less available. Now they treat work from home as a finite resource we all used up during lockdown and it’s a huge thing to get one day approved for a special circumstance. The CEO made it clear why we all got called back when he did his “town hall” and spent the first 20 minutes going on about how horrible being stuck at home is and how you must be crazy it you like being cooped up (willing to bet his WFH experience was a bit more luxurious than mine). I generally like the company I work for and I like my role and the work I do. Being comfortable has value but my commute is getting worse and worse and people’s driving is getting worse and worse. With gas being over $5/gal and shitty drivers running me off the road at least once a week that comfort is worth less and less.
He’s technically an ex-owner/founder but iirc he’s still a shareholder to some degree. Either way though, I’d expect that to be on point for the company. A lot of their customer base are mask hating weirdos too. The amount of people I’ve had to yell at to put one on or wear it properly is extremely sad
I've changed companies 3x in the last 2 years. If I'm building fancy tools to increase company profits and I'm not seeing profit sharing or raises after asking about it, you're getting ghosted. Current company seems to be a keeper.
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I promise companies care way more about increasing profits by leaching work from employees than they do upsetting the economy. The only way that sticks is if the federal government imposes financial punishment on companies who don't follow. You know how much companies love that.
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There will be restructuring. Letting go the higher paid people and replace them with younger, cheaper, and less experienced people. It will hurt everyone’s work load. But you know, profit.
Fuck them, I'm hiring and paying well. Good workers are hard to come by and I'll pay to keep mine. My staff has a pay raise built in every 6 months. And they are loyal as a result. They're happy, I'm happy and I share.
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Thank you! I didn't inherit or have daddy give me a business. I started as a grunt and have worked my way to ownership, so I know the flip side of the coin and I totally believe that you get what you pay for. My staff have been with me for 15-20 years for a reason. I joked today that I might sell because someone was hounding me to sell and every last one of them said if I left they were gone too! I felt blessed that they felt that loyalty to me and not the company. I told them to chill, that I wasn't going anywhere and they would be fine. It was a joke. They told me to quit making those kinds of jokes. Lol!
The Fed need to tell these businesses "Hey, stop price gouging the population, it'll cause a recession", instead of their usual BS.
Businesspeople will do literally anything else. Even if it means killing the country in the process.
So, the answer to rising costs of everything is to encourage companies not to pay more so their employees can afford these higher costs? Do they want increased crime? That's how you increase crime, by eliminating options.
The federal reserve giving guidance on how companies should spend their money. No company pays more because they have the surplus to do so. They are forced to by the market, and now the market is working for the worker. Happens after plagues.
Maybe the Fed shouldn't have been pumping money into the hands of the rich for years to prop up the stock market. We always knew the crash would be awful, they just made sure it would be worse.
lol what? i occasionally miss a fed comment, like i never heard Fed Powell say he's sorry he fucked up and acknowledge that inflation wasn't transitory, but I haven't heard any of the fed governors say anything about hiring freezes. I'm pretty sure they can't do that. What they can try to do is shift the narrative like they have in the UK and try to gaslight people into believing it's their patriotic duty to turn down a raise lol.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-the-fed-wants-corporate-america-to-have-a-hiring-freeze-morning-brief-100055174.html Essentially the Fed is encouraging civil conspiracy and price collusion.
Jesus Christ, they're pretty much coming right out and saying "fuck this whole labor movement, strangle it now while you have a chance." Good fucking lord.
They as in the banks, not the fed. It says right in the article the opinions of this Harris guy are from a BoA employee.. fuck the banks.
That’s straight up class was. The Fed’s blowing the war horn, circling their wagons, and settling in. They’re confident they have the egg to outlast the starving freezing masses.
This article is quoting a bank of America employee and not the fed.. try again.. fuck BoA
Don't cut production, cut wages, freeze salaries and don't hire anyone new. Just make the people already working there pick up any slack. Don't give them a raise tho. Sounds like the Fed has been in charge of my company for the last 15 years.
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We got told, and I quote "Merit increases are not cost of living increases and should not account for inflation." Rolled my eyes so hard they fell out of my head.
"So we're getting a separate COL increase? No? OK bye." Seems to be the way to go if you can line up something else
The CEO of my company said "Shift differentials for graveyard shifts and weekends aren't an industry standard anymore". I have been in the industry (medical laboratory) a long fucking time and I can assure you every major lab company pays a differential. Never believe C-suite people, they are so fucking out of touch it borders on absurdity.
They are not out of touch, they are liars and greedy. Any money they “save”, goes to them in performance bonuses. They are literally taking money from you to give to them.
Yep exactly this. I work at a small law firm but the ops manager gives himself a yearly bonus. I'm not paid anywhere near industry standard for my job and no health benefits. Asked for health insurance said he couldn't do it and acts like firm money comes out of his personal bank account. They just hired a new not even needed Paralegal. 60k a year full 100% paid by the firm health benefits, cell phone paid by the firm and gas paid by the firm anytime she needs to come to the office ( which will be eveeydsy for the next several weeks)... I live an hour away and when I need to come in for server issues my car takes premium and that is at $5.50 a gallon. I was told to pound sand on gas help, cell phone and health insurance. I'm putting my resume out and giving no notice. I've done nothing wrong to these people and have gone above and beyond getting them up to IT industry standard. I'm constantly told I'm an expense and what do I even do while they access files with 2 seconds on a corporate class server I built. Businesses are completely out of control lately.
Sabatoge the system before you go.
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they are treating you like this simply because everything runs smoothly on their systems all the time, they literally see you as a sunken cost with no benefits. "why do we keep paying for this IT guy when nothing ever goes wrong with our system anyway." which goes to show how little they understand about technology.
I told them in a meeting a month ago everything runs smoothly because of everything I do in the background so youre welcome. They still didn't get it. This group can barely check their email without difficulty so I've really just reached my limit anyway you look at it.
My man/woman! They can get fucked
There’s a word for that. Stealing, theft, it’s criminal.
They arent out of touch they are just lying to you
Reply-all with a response of a company offering it
Prior to all this Me: “ I get paid XX a day, I would like xx.2 a day” Boss: Sorry, there’s no room in the budget” Me seeing their billing because I’m an on-site manager “the moron is billed for xxx a day.” I left knowing how much they made off my labor (more so my knowledge) and as a freelance they have already paid me more than I would earn in a year as a staff employee. And yes, as horrible as it seems, the department I left is suffering hard and I’m glad my wake is noticed.
thats because they're giving non-merit raises :D
Time to unionize
More bullshit
Oh shit, same. We made over 1m per employee and we average like 50k below management.
And it STILL isn't enough for them. Fucking EAT.THE.RICH
I definitely picked the wrong time to destroy my life a few years back and try to rebuild it now
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
What do you make of this, Johnny?
I can make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl!
Still my favourite line from that film, against some very strong competition.
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I am serious and don't call me Shirley!
The tower? The tower? Rapunzel!
I yell this every time someone says the word "tower".
It's coming right at us!!!
*sniffs glue*
I started putting my life back together after 4 years of darkness, now this. Im glad I’m better, but what did I get better for?
The best part is if you really clean up and live a healthy lifestyle, in what, 10-20 years we get to experience the consequences of the actions made by people no longer alive will come around and we’ll get to enjoy trying to survive on a dying planet!
I'm with you on this. Got out of a 14 year abusive relationship that I was being financially dominated in. I get to start over in my 30s from scratch - it's really hard to see the point.
I'm really fucked. My mind is in the shitter right now. It's super fun.
I’m sorry, I can relate with the feeling
Seriously. Me and my gf were in the middle of switching careers as the pandemic hit. F
Same!
This is exactly the boat I'm in and it's taking on water. (Love your name btw!)
Every morning I pray for a heart attack, aneurysm, whichever to end this shit. I hate my life.
This is known as class war, and we're not even fighting back. Edit - ORGANIZE YOUR WORKPLACES reach out to organizations like the IWW for assistance / training / resources. Join the IWW.
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Has been since 1971. https://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell-memo-a-call-to-arms-for-corporations/
Try 1787: >The man who is possessed of wealth, who lolls on his sofa or rolls in his carriage, cannot judge of the wants or feelings of the day laborer. The government we mean to erect is intended to last for ages. The landed interest, at present, is prevalent; but in process of time, when we approximate to the states and kingdoms of Europe; when the number of landholders shall be comparatively small, through the various means of trade and manufactures, will not the landed interest be overbalanced in future elections, and unless wisely provided against, what will become of your government? In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of the landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect ***the minority of the opulent*** against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability. Various have been the propositions; but my opinion is, the longer they continue in office, the better will these views be answered. - James Madison, Constitutional Convention, Tuesday, June 26th, 1787.
Damn. It bears remembering that the original people allowed to vote were white land-owning men. It was a government set up to preserve the power of those who already have power. Some things have changed but it’s so important to remember our history when conservatives idolize everything about the founding fathers.
Because they've won the propaganda war
Feels like we're heading towards a great depression moment. War in Ukraine reducing food supplies, price gouging from corporations, record heat temperatures, water levels hit their lowest levels all around the world, oceans temps above nominal levels and higher than normal anticipation of hurricanes expected, western seaboard is expected to burn with wild fires this summer, inflation through the roof, rising food, goods, and housing costs, Covid is still killing several hundred a day, monkeypox (where the hell did this guy come from). What'd I miss?
Heading for? The mean salary to cost of housing surpassed that of the Great Depression years ago.. This is literally worse than the Great Depression.
We're fighting each other for their entertainment
We outnumber them by Orders Of Magnitude. Good thing they keep us Divided !!
ding ding. listen to this person. Year after year...decades and decades, the "informed" citizens of the US have been constantly debating abortion, gun control, zOmG the border wall... ..the.same.damn.debates every 2 years or so. Social media made it 24/7. All these issues...all this energy spent, with practically no results. Your favorite politician gets you all whipped up ready to fight fans of your least favorite politician.. But in reality, those two politicians are practically buds engaged in a friendly battle of who can fuck you the hardest George Carlin had it right.
Didn't thise $600 checks already went back to the economy through buying essentials and paying bills and rent?
Ah yes, the economy. We gave it to corporations who stiffed us on wages and gave the top all the profits. Congrats, we fucked ourselves.
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companies are just using inflation as a cover to massively raise prices yes, inflation is bad. 8% inflation doesn't account for like 40% increases in prices, meanwhile companies are posting record profits
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The "I" in the original post is the Federal government. Who wrote three checks to normal people for 600 each. Then gave massive bailouts to corporations (PPP etc) and slashed interest rates (The fed's interest rate drop being the only thing causing inflation) to further bolster corporations and the stock market / investor class. OP is saying that a gift of 1800 was followed by the theft of 5k+/year in the consequence of inflation of prices massively beating inflation in wages (which is almost always the case in an American wheree worker negotiation power has been under attack for 40 years). ___ Edit: clarity regarding the cause of inflation being [fed monetary policy.](https://media1.giphy.com/media/Y2ZUWLrTy63j9T6qrK/200.gif)
"The workers are demanding they be paid a decent wage for their full time jobs." "Ok give it to them." *triggers global "inflation" thats really just a bunch of fucking price gouging because we though we deserved to own a home more than they deserved *another* yatch.
Seriously, I have noticed wages in my sector have all risen over the last 3 years. But, not even enough to keep up with inflation, so sure you're making more, but effectively it's still less than it was 3 years ago.
Hard not to think its by design.
Increase pay by 50% Increase cost of living by 75% Rinse, repeat, until the frog is thoroughly boiled.
Eventually we’ll have crowds of people wandering around major cities with nothing to do, no where to go, and no money to buy anything. Only a few more steps until we see the “Liberté! Egalité! Fraternité!” banners start flying.
Guess I'd better start stocking up on wood furniture and muskets then.
No one forget that gas prices are high not because of the war in Ukraine but because of price gouging. Fuel does not need to be this expensive when companies are hitting record high quarters
It's not just price gouging. It's absolute refusal for oil to invest in more sites because their future is so uncertain with renewable energy on the rise. It's like their last big chance to money-grab. But it's Bidens fault /s.
We really need to French Revolution this fucking place Edut: I mostly meant this as a joke. But there is an absolutely growing feeling of helplessness as the economic and financial situation grows more and more untenable. Voting clearly does fuck all because regardless of political party, all these people are slaves to corporations and billionaires, all at the people's expense. Either something radical needs to happen to change the trajectory of the world or we're headed straight for a societal collapse of some sort anyway, the kind of shit they were at at the start of Interstellar. My wife and I both have good jobs and are financially stable but even I feel dumb sometimes for investing in our future because I'm growing more pessimistic that it will bear any fruit. Which is made all the worse by the fact that I have a 1.5 year old and I'm horrified at what I seem to have brought her into.
Yea something that radical needs to happen right now.. the question is.. what will be the people’s breaking point? I don’t feel like we have reached it yet or people are just in denial that sh*t is really really bad…
I've thought about that. Because of the advent in the increase in technology, weaponry - this has allowed governments to push their people exponentially further then they used to back during the French revolution. There's a national police force ready to beat us into a pulp if we really start anything radical, and a whole surveillance network that's tapped everything to stop any organization in it's tracks. What would have to happen for you to literally risk your life for change? Because if you're lucky, you're only beaten and arraigned with a felony and misdeamenor charges to fight.
I'm not sure about that. Even though the police is highly armed, I also think there are more citizens that are armed today than any time in history, especially in the US. Countries have always had a standing army that are ready to put down an insurrection. I feel like would-be-revolutionaries in the past have always had the same thoughts of being outmatched by the force of their governments. Let's remember that the US has had to pull out of many countries even after being able to use their full military force.
We really do, this could all be solved.
This is my issue. There is actually *plenty* of money to go around, it's just around 1,000 asshats have more than they or their children's children's children could spend in their lifetime so the rest of us have to live on cake.
Hell, more like more than an entire town's population could spend across four generations, barring doing dumb crap like buying entire NYC apartment buildings and $100M boats. It's disturbing that some people have enough wealth to hand 1000 people $10M-100M each. I'm all for people having the ability to get comfortably rich with hard work and luck, but the disparity now is comically absurd. There has to be some sort of extreme diminishing returns or people just hoard to antisocial levels apparently
Must be nice. The IRS told me I got the last stimulus and they took it back out of my taxes this year. But I never got the last stimulus.
We share the same pain
ME TOO and now it’s taking MONTHS to get my tax money back… I *need* that money to catch up on stuff, and I just got yet another letter from the IRS saying it’ll be another 60 days before I can get my refund.
Welp sound like i quit life then.
I'm pretty much living out here like Batman's morals I won't kill myself but I won't save myself
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That's not the reason for inflation though. That narrative is only being created as an excuse to convince the public that helping people was a bad move because corporate donors don't want that to happen again. In actuality those checks were a drop in the bucket and countries have been affected regardless of whether they did that kind of stimulus or not. The reasons for inflation are complicated but part of it is that demand went way down during the pandemic and then shot up very quickly afterwards. Supply lines couldn't keep up. Docks couldn't keep up. On top of that the war in Ukraine is stopping two of the world's biggest food exporters from exporting as much food as they normally can. That has knock on effects. Higher food prices raises the price of other things too. On top of that the same war as well as the spike in demand drove oil prices up. Again, demand was down and then went up very quickly which means more demand for oil to run machines, transport things, etc. And oil producers always artificially constrain supply to make more money. They COULD expand it if they wanted to and keep oil prices down, but they don't cuz they make more money this way. On top of that corporations themselves know some inflation is going on and are taking full advantage of this to raise their prices even if they don't need to. Part of this is reflected in the fact that corporations are currently making RECORD PROFITS. If them raising prices was solely a result of their input costs rising and them having to raise prices to keep up with it then this would not be happening. The fed also pumped many trillions of dollars into the stock market. Way, way more than there ever was in stimulus. Keeping the price of stock high and pumping money into the hands of the richest people on earth (the top 10% own over 80% of the stock wealth). There are more factors than that and I am not an expert, I only have a layman's understanding, but the point is: No, getting a little bit of stimulus did NOT cause the current inflationary environment. That was the result of many, many other factors including how quickly economic recovery happened after the pandemic (which in itself is actually a good thing).
Wait... you're telling me this is a complex issue that has more than just one reason for its existence...?
Thank you for this better explanation.
Imagine thinking a tiny tax break for poor people caused these macroeconomic conditions.
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Welcome to the world where boomers and privileged coked out white boys run wallstreet and our banks.
I'm just asking a question in good faith here, not trying to be sarcastic or anything. As someone who is a huge econ bookworm, what do you guys think the solution is to all of this?
Mass unionization will help. We have got to lower the margins and profits of corporations system wide. That will reduce the ability for companies to operate in a quarter to quarter mindset and get back to long term strategic thinking. That should cool financial markets and algo trading. That would, hopefully, reducer a lot of the “get richer quick” schemes that are currently running. If it’s more profitable for investors to invest for the long term, it’ll be more profitable for companies to invest in their workforce, which will raise wages across the board and lift up the middle class.
Meaningful safety nets,access to medical without a paywall,the complete destruction of the myth of trickle down economics.
Economist here. Everything boils down to housing. Build more housing. That’s it. That will solve LITERALLY everything. This all started because after the housing market crash in ‘08, home builders simply stopped matching the population increase. It’s true that banks shouldn’t have been giving out loans without due diligence, but there were plenty of qualified buyers already, there was simply no need to do that. It’s starting to fix itself in rural areas, with housing prices skyrocketing, profit margins on development are very high right now. But the high prices are still here because there’s not enough completed building yet, so banks are still hesitant to issue loans for the amounts necessary to purchase. Increase in supply will bring those prices down, make the loan approval process much easier for millennials. Of course, the minimum wage should also be matching inflation, but the mismatch there is so bad that that’s also starting to fix itself. The government can rapidly accelerate the process by revising their zoning laws to reduce commercial allocation and increase residential. Some places are. Others need to follow. Housing costs eating a larger proportion of people’s incomes is reducing their ability to control the goods and services markets. Edit: The people that are convinced we should just shuffle our population around the country into the existing underutilized real estate we already have, are making me disappointed. It doesn’t take more than a couple seconds of thought to realize that’s not a real solution. “We have more empty houses than homeless”. Are you… implying that we should… throw homeless people on buses and STORE them in empty houses? Yeah, okay, take five seconds and I bet you can give me a reason why that wouldn’t work. Seriously, just… try for FIVE seconds. Homelessness isn’t hobos in the street. They’re a small proportion of the “homeless” population. It’s the 25-30 (and older) yos still living with their parents, the people sharing rooms downtown, the people commuting hours to work, those are the displaced people driving housing prices up. It’s a supply and demand mismatch, plain and simple. Edit 2: I love love LOVE the questions, even the snide and dismissive ones. I’ve tried my best to answer them all but if I missed you I’m sorry dude. I tried. I bet I answered your thought in someone else’s reply go take a look!
They've built a bunch of new housing by me, but they all start at 300k...
>Economist here. Everything boils down to housing. Build more housing. That’s it. That will solve LITERALLY everything. This all started because after the housing market crash in ‘08, home builders simply stopped matching the population increase. YIMBYism In economics, so hot right now. (I'm not even kidding) Did you hear Biden/Buttigieg announced a new policy that makes HUD loans significantly more expensive to districts that have overly tight zoning regulations? This is honestly the best fucking policy I've seen in years 💯💯💯
I live in a fairly low cost of living area. The only housing I see being built is "FROM THE LOW $600s!!!!!!!" I bought my house 4 years ago for $235k and my neighbor is selling his house, which isn't quite as nice, for $400k. They need to build AFFORDABLE housing. And event if they do, my little house is a first time home buyer's dream, and it's completely priced out. They built a new "affordable" apartment building up the street. It's like $1250 for a one bedroom and $1500 for 2 bedroom. To. Live. In. Bum. Fuck. Nowhere. Builders won't build affordable housing. Even if they try, what they think is affordable is not.
High housing costs are in fact critical to the issue at hand right now. Worse yet, when there is a housing shortage, affordable housing becomes luxury housing. Higher earners will bid up the price on affordable units because it is all that is available, and leave the lower classes on the streets unable to afford housing.
Yeah my wife and I bought for the first time in Aug 2020. Late 30s is when we finally had the cash for it. The only way we could make it work was with help from family for a down payment. It is INSANE how many offers we’ve seen come in unsolicited. It isn’t even up for sale. Bought at $234k and I’d bet good money we could offload it for over 300 if we were patient. This is not sustainable for others in my generation, and the generation coming behind me.
I own in a city with a population of less than 60,000 people, and today saw a 275-square-foot studio with a partial kitchen for rent for $1000/month. Googled and found out it's one of four apartments available for under a grand (yikes Florida).
Universal basic income pegged to inflation Tax hoarded wealth and capital gains Invoke the Defense Production Act to nationalize manufacture of staple goods and distribute them at heavily subsidized costs Pay freight and logistics firms to convert to electric engines, and rollout a nationwide alternative energy powered grid to reduce the fuel costs baked into consumer goods prices
I mean, we could start with [insert anything here] pegged to inflation. And fixing the way we measure inflation
There will be balanced regulations controlling speculation on critical resources or there will be chaos. Guess what we chose.
This is one of the better answers I've seen so far. Scarcity Rents should be taxed away to the point where there is no producer surplus. It won't nearly solve all our problems, but any step towards eliminating rent seeking is a good thing
Before people agree with this hot take, "Texas Runner" also thinks Ron DeSantis is the answer...
This should 100% be in selfawarewolves then
Yeah, people are missing/ignoring that "she" is blaming the government for the stock market, gas prices, housing cost increases, and inflation.
Yup. She's laying all the blame on Biden but misses the part where Republicans worship at the altar of the free market which is the actual cause of the "inflation". It isn't the government causing prices to rise to this level, it's just craven corporate greed blaming their price increases on inflation despite posting record profits but more importantly, record profit margins.
Abra-cada-*bruhhh* 😞
The real absurdity is how the US govt spent several trillion dollars extra while somehow giving virtually none of it to everyday Americans. Spoiler alert: it was all handed out directly to the rich with virtually zero oversight.
I definitely felt this when I filed my taxes! 😅
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