Good Luck Living!

These past couple years have been tough. With Covid, unemployment, and potential wars, everyone is ready to hear that there’s some good news finally on the way. But, that news is not coming anytime soon, and with the new and pressing issue of spiking inflation, we may be in for a very rough few years.

Inflation is the worst it’s been in a long time, with inflation rates at a level not seen since the early 1980s. In fact, inflation rates hit 7.5% as of February 10, 2022. For reference, the Federal Reserve’s maximum safe value for the inflation rate is 2%.

I’m sure you’re wondering what has caused this quick spike in inflation, and there a few reasons, the first being Covid. The pandemic has definitely changed the business dynamic and has caused workers to quit in mass numbers in a phenomenon known as the “Great Resignation.” During quarantine when people were at home, they realized that they didn’t want to just live to work, so many people have decided not to go back to work, causing a massive 4.5 million person labor shortage.

Another factor leading to the inflation rate is the supply chain issue. Covid has played a massive role in this and it got the ball rolling for the failed supply chain. When the world shut down and people were forced to stay inside, people decided that they wanted to do things like redecorate their houses or build a home gym, leading to a massive amount of goods needing to be shipped from other countries. This huge increase in home consumption and a lack of workers due to Covid as caused ports to be overrun and overstaffed, leading to a backed up supply chain.

One last huge factor leading to inflation is the struggle over vaccine mandates with truckers. As many know, the truckers responsible for shipping goods over the US-Canada border are currently on strike over the Covid vaccine that was mandated for them, causing a huge setback in shipping. In fact, some car companies like Ford have been forced to stop production, which will only cause inflation to spike even more.

Inflation is hitting every kind of good necessary to living, like housing, cars, energy, and food. Car costs have increased by 40.5% due to a lack of microchips now being used in electronics due to Covid, energy rates have increased by 27%, food rates have increased by 7%. To top that all off, housing is now a scarce resource and many now can’t afford to buy or rent a house or apartment.

The Federal Reserve does have a plan to combat inflation though. The chairman, Jerome Powell, has announced that the Fed will raise interest rates multiple times this year to get inflation under control. The train of thought here is if you raise the cost to borrow money, people will borrow less money and subsequently spend less money, bringing inflation down. But, this is bad news if you don’t have the money to afford to live in the first place. If you couldn’t afford to live before, you certainly won’t be able to afford living now.

Inflation is hitting almost everyone very hard, except for the select few that can afford it. During the pandemic while many people were out of a job or struggling to make a paycheck fit their lifestyle needs, CEO and corporate pay increased by 18.9%, meaning they made 351 times more than the average worker. While people are being ruined by this pandemic and its subsequent economic disruption, the top gets to keep living comfortable, while people like Millennials and Gen-Z get to struggle to survive in the new and hostile economy provided to us by the previous generations.

Living shouldn’t have to be this way. Living should not have to be a fight for survival because the economy can’t survive a disruption. I hope everyone makes it through this time of struggle and we can one day return to normal.

CEO pay soared nearly 19% in 2020: CEOs made 351 times as much as the typical worker