zach on Nostr: Recently, I watched a video of a guy interviewing for a retail job. Mid-interview, ...
Recently, I watched a video of a guy interviewing for a retail job. Mid-interview, the hiring manager mentioned, hesitantly, that the pay for the Assistant Manager position would be $12.50 an hour. Shocked, he asked what the pay would be if they were to hire him for the Manager position instead. $12.75 an hour.
The rest of the video is him describing how hard it’s become to live working in the retail sector that can no longer offer something close to resembling a livable wage.
I don’t fault this guy’s frustration, but this leads to an obvious question:
What the hell is going on?
How can we live in a world where prices are quickly rising, stocks and company profits continue to rise, unemployment is supposedly low, yet wages in many industries have failed to rise even close to rising costs, stock valuations, and a supposed tight labor market?
We all see the symptoms, but what is the root cause? Better yet, how can we visualize that root cause?
To illustrate, I reasoned through a 5 whys exercise (see attached image to post):
The underlying root cause of why retail wages are so low, for example, is ultimately because of the debasement of our currency due to our government printing money by fiat.
Retail may seem like an easy sector to point at, I understand. Not skilled work you might say. However, it’s only the beginning, with the retail sector being one of the first victims in a monetary system that’s being debased at a rapid rate.
You might also say that companies have always maximized for profit, what’s different now? It’s getting increasingly more difficult for companies to beat the debasement rate. Yes, it’s true in nominal values the stock market and profits for companies are generally rising. However, debasement is rising as fast, if not faster. Everything must be compared with the relative rate of debasement of the currency.
Although these problems appear new, let’s be clear, it’s been happening the entire time. In normal times, it’s less obvious and for short periods of times it truly appears as though you may be getting ahead. Wages and stocks may rise as inflation may stay “normal”, creating good times.
We’re well past these times.
Unfortunately, the current system will not be getting better. For this Ponzi scheme to continue, more and more money must be printed at an ever increasing pace to pay for the previous rounds of money printing. It’s so bad, the US government is printing a trillion dollars a quarter at last count. It’s a cruel bait and switch.
In it’s most extreme scenario, let’s take Venezuela as a crude example of where hyperinflation may lead us. During hyperinflation, stocks were the best performing in the world in relative nominal and percentage value. Unfortunately, it was cheaper to wipe your ass with the currency than using it to buy toilet paper.
In monetary systems that rely on inflation as a feature, just like Venezuela the US government’s money printing has now truly gone past the point of no return.
This is what Satoshi Nakamoto realized as the 2008 financial crisis (and more importantly, the response) unfolded, and how our government made fateful decisions in its response. This was essentially done by not letting the banks fail, but letting the taxpayers socialize the cost. Socialism for me, but not for thee.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-145009378?r=3yf5b9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
The rest of the video is him describing how hard it’s become to live working in the retail sector that can no longer offer something close to resembling a livable wage.
I don’t fault this guy’s frustration, but this leads to an obvious question:
What the hell is going on?
How can we live in a world where prices are quickly rising, stocks and company profits continue to rise, unemployment is supposedly low, yet wages in many industries have failed to rise even close to rising costs, stock valuations, and a supposed tight labor market?
We all see the symptoms, but what is the root cause? Better yet, how can we visualize that root cause?
To illustrate, I reasoned through a 5 whys exercise (see attached image to post):
The underlying root cause of why retail wages are so low, for example, is ultimately because of the debasement of our currency due to our government printing money by fiat.
Retail may seem like an easy sector to point at, I understand. Not skilled work you might say. However, it’s only the beginning, with the retail sector being one of the first victims in a monetary system that’s being debased at a rapid rate.
You might also say that companies have always maximized for profit, what’s different now? It’s getting increasingly more difficult for companies to beat the debasement rate. Yes, it’s true in nominal values the stock market and profits for companies are generally rising. However, debasement is rising as fast, if not faster. Everything must be compared with the relative rate of debasement of the currency.
Although these problems appear new, let’s be clear, it’s been happening the entire time. In normal times, it’s less obvious and for short periods of times it truly appears as though you may be getting ahead. Wages and stocks may rise as inflation may stay “normal”, creating good times.
We’re well past these times.
Unfortunately, the current system will not be getting better. For this Ponzi scheme to continue, more and more money must be printed at an ever increasing pace to pay for the previous rounds of money printing. It’s so bad, the US government is printing a trillion dollars a quarter at last count. It’s a cruel bait and switch.
In it’s most extreme scenario, let’s take Venezuela as a crude example of where hyperinflation may lead us. During hyperinflation, stocks were the best performing in the world in relative nominal and percentage value. Unfortunately, it was cheaper to wipe your ass with the currency than using it to buy toilet paper.
In monetary systems that rely on inflation as a feature, just like Venezuela the US government’s money printing has now truly gone past the point of no return.
This is what Satoshi Nakamoto realized as the 2008 financial crisis (and more importantly, the response) unfolded, and how our government made fateful decisions in its response. This was essentially done by not letting the banks fail, but letting the taxpayers socialize the cost. Socialism for me, but not for thee.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-145009378?r=3yf5b9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web