So as of this article’s posting, it’s November 15, 2021. One-and-a-half weeks away from Thanksgiving, and things suck, don’t they?
Yeah, we still have the COVID global pandemic going on, mostly the fault of those who refuse to mask up and refuse to take the vaccine, but also because we didn’t have vaccines available for the kids yet; but we still moronically sent them to school, didn’t we? And not all of them required masks because of obstinate idiot parents playing domestic terrorist as they preach their gospel of misinformation and rumor and outright lies and demanding that they control the school boards. And they’re wrongly claiming to be the victims, straight out of the fascism playbook, even as their numbers get and spread COVID like it was herpes.
But it’s not just that, is it? No, employment is still an issue. We have a so-called “worker shortage”, which is a half-truth. We really don’t have a “worker shortage”. Businesses have a shortage of people who are not willing to work for sub-poverty wages in workplaces that are full of stress and aggravation. A certain fast-food chain in my neighborhood is still trying to get people to work for $10 an hour and wondering why nobody wants to apply. Then we have employers that post openings but don’t hire anyone, and instead overwork the staff they still have because it’s good for their bottom line and it allows them to scream the lie that “nobody wants to work anymore”.
I’ve mentioned before how my father would continually chant the mantra of “whatever the market will bear” when it comes to wages. Well, Scrooge McGreedy, “the market” is telling you loud and clear to cut the crap and pay your people better. They’re not going to work long hours for $10 an hour flipping burgers when they could be spending long hours filling orders for Amazon at $20 an hour.
But now we have a few more problems.
We have supply line shortages. We have ocean ships full of cargo containers stacked up like rush hour traffic outside our ports because there are not enough people to work the docks and not enough trucks to transport the stuff when it is unloaded. Factories were shut down for a few months because of COVID. And then we had our fellow idiots go panic-hoarding last year, despite the outright lie recently told by Kellyanne Conaway. All of that made it hard to get things back to normal. But once the masks came off and some – but obviously not everyone – got vaccinated, we certainly demanded more stuff. Stuff that we couldn’t get yet.
The price of gas and heating fuel is going up. Again, COVID shut down oil refineries for a while, and big producers like Russia and Saudi Arabia have decided they aren’t going to increase production to make up the difference. So gas prices and heating oil prices are going to keep going up for the time being.
We’re in the middle of a real estate bubble that rivals the housing bubble of the 2000’s, where a one-bed one-bath shack now can go for half a million in some places, and the buyers are big corporations that are paying cash. Ordinary people, real American people, are being priced out of buying a home only to find that their current rentals are also getting too damn high.
The airlines are now having problems, because too many people wanting to travel and not enough pilots and crew thanks to COVID. The auto industry is in trouble because of a shortage of the microchips that run the electronics. They’re having to scavenge their inventory for the parts to fix the vehicles going to the shop. And why is there a shortage of microchips? Because the businesses decided to get theirs from China instead of making them in America like we used to, and those chips are stuck on a boat.
And then there is inflation. The price of everything is going up. Basics, luxuries, you name it, the price is going up. Demand is high, supply is low, and, thanks to those much-needed economic boosts earlier this year, we have a little more spending money in our bank accounts. So, yeah, inflation.
In short, it sucks.
But, here’s the thing: as much as the air-fluffed ego-driven media and certainly the Trump/Q Party and a certain questionably-corrupt U.S. Senator would have us believe it, most of this is really not the fault of President Joe Biden. We were going to get this no matter who is president. The pandemic and the supply issues of 2020 made this inevitable.
And don’t forget that we went through the longest period of low inflation in recent history. We went through the post-Great Recession years with very low inflation. That was the thing that the Federal Reserve was fixated on… not about the millions that were laid off by Corporate America and then forsaken by state and federal governments, but about keeping inflation low. That’s why interest rates were near-zero for so long. It was all to keep inflation low during their “jobless recovery”.
We got spoiled by that. It was inevitable that it would end. And it would suck no matter who was in the White House when it did.
But this article isn’t about who is or is not to blame for this. It’s about what needs to happen to make this a short-term issue.
I know why the media and the questionable senator and the party of fascism and insurrection want to make the price hikes and inflation an issue. They want to target Biden and his programs. They also want the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, which will slow the recovery and also screw anyone with a mortgage or credit card debt. That has always been their go-to when it comes to inflation. Raise the interest rates, slow the economy down, get inflation in check.
But there’s something else that we must do, and it’s advice that a vast majority of you do not want to hear, never mind heed.
We need to slow things down first. Not the Federal Reserve. Not the White House. Not Congress. Us. The American people. We need to stop the spending on our own.
And it’s not really hard to do, because things are getting rough for us already with the price spikes. But we need to be the ones to make the first move, not the big-money and big-government people.
Forget about travel. Between the airline cancellations and the belligerent anti-maskers throwing tantrums, it’s really not a good time to be flying anyway. Don’t make that big trip for the holidays. Stay home. You can blame it on the ongoing pandemic or you can say it’s the rising prices. Either way, just don’t make plans. Save that money for heating oil or electrical bills.
Don’t look at getting a new home in the next few years. Stay where you are. The corporations that are house-hoarding will always have more cash than you can get credit, so don’t try to compete. Fight to stay where you are for now. They’ll give up and get out when the bubble bursts, like all economic bubbles do.
We always overspend during the holiday season. Always. Big party, big presents, big to-do, and big debts. Don’t do it this year. Go low-key. Keep it simple. A few years back when times were tough after my father’s death, my mom decided to give simple presents. Adult coloring books and small LEGO sets. That’s what the rest of us need to do. Forget big screen TVs and new electronic games. Get the smaller turkey breast instead of the huge bird. Don’t have the party and just give out cards. Believe me when I say you would thank yourself later on should interest rates go up.
I know that you do not want to cut back on stuff. Recent history says you won’t. But let’s get brutally honest here… one way or another, you’re going to have to, because things are going to suck no matter what. We all can cut back now, slow the economy on our own accord, and this will be short-term. We may even get to keep the interest rates as they are now, which is something the banks and the political players don’t want to have happen. Or we can whine and complain and keep doing what we’ve been doing and watch prices continue to go up and inflation to go up and gas prices to go up… and then the Fed will raise interest rates and things will hurt even more for you because now the debt from holiday spending and the mortgage you took so you can get that overpriced house will hurt even more.
It sucks, yes. But we have the power to make this suck now and be over with it, or we can bitch about it and have it hurt even more later and last longer. It’s up to us. It’s always been up to us.
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