The Economy

I don't think that person understands why that is a really bad thing.

He's pointing out that in "Burger King" terms a dollar is worth less than 70 percent of what it was worth in 1986. That's a bad thing if you are a consumer.

The average hourly wage should have nothing to do with that, except to point out that that worker productivity has increased by a lot since 1986. That shouldn't surprise anyone. Enormous technological gains over that time have made it so that the typical worker does way more in an hour than they were able to in 1986, and wages are a function of productivity, which is what generates income (which is what pays rising wages).

If workers had been allowed to enjoy the fruits of those productivity gains without it being robbed from them via a hidden tax -- the currency being shit on -- they wouldn't be treading water to the point that an hour's wage gets them the same meal at Burger King for an hour of work today. ... and little to nothing more.

Throughout history, people's standards of living have risen dramatically whenever technological gains led to the kinds of productivity gains we have seen since 1986 (think the invention of the automobile and how it transformed the average standard of living; the microprocessor should have been just as transformative). As a result, when productivity rises, people can buy more things that enhance their lives and enjoy more leisure time.

What he just pointed out is that in "real Burger King terms" your standard of living is right around where it was in 1986. And he's treating it like it's a good thing when an hour of work -- despite all of those productivity gains -- only buys you the same burger and fries it did then. That's not a good thing.

It's precisely why people have way less savings and way more debt today than they did in 1986. We haven't totally forgone the raised standard of living technological advancements have afforded. ... but rather than our increased productivity paying for it, we have debased the currency and monetized rising debt loads. It's why large numbers people are way more stressed, worried about whether they will be able to retire (they have way more debt, fewer savings) and not feeling better off. The currency debasement robbed them of a level of security they would have had.

 

Yup. Globally. Not sure how that relates to what I posted, though.

 

This nonsense is why we America will unfortunately contine to what it sows: Biden to form ‘strike force’ to go after price-gouging

For the last year, as discontent has had his popularity in the toilet, their approach has been to tell people not to believe their lying eyes. They tamed "inflation," now it's a conspiracy where the bad guys have been convincing people of something they aren't really experiencing.

That didn't work, so now they are going to be to propose price-fixing schemes and blame it on "greedTM."

Not a central bank that has blown the money supply through the roof to monetize trillions of dollars of government debt, which has somehow escalated since Biden became president. ... an impressive feat given the debt problem we already had when he took over.

The sad thing is how ignorant people are, so this dark ages nonsense actually resonates with way too many. I just saw a good primer on the idiocy. ...The State of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Analysis