There are numerous reasons why inflation has been creeping up - supply chains are still being disrupted and are fragile (China's perpetual lockdowns are big here), demand is badly outpacing supply (the stimulus played a big role here), and there's obviously just outright gouging going on especially with fuel. At its base inflation is just capitalists maintaining profit margins by passing rising production costs downstream to the consumer, especially labor costs when those can't be slashed.
But the single biggest reason it's happening now is the pandemic-exacerbated labor shortage. The disease literally killed a million Americans, the vast majority of them working people, who were in turn disproportionately in food service and retail. It induced millions more to retire early, or to stay home to take care of kids while schools, or to become very picky with their job openings because they now want to stay working from home, quitting shifty jobs because there are so many more vacancies now, etc. In short: *the disruption of the pandemic has swung the advantage in bargaining power away from capital toward labor for the first time in FIFTY years. This means even without the pressure of government legislation or organized labor, employers have to raise wages to attract workers, even in retail and food service where wages almost never go up without federal minimum wage increases. In these industries wages have gone up at least $4-5/he.
This is all coming at a time where actually profitable investments are drying up everywhere and an era of large growth at the top of the economy due to a decade of a glut of easy credit and low interest rates is coming to a halt. We have long had a running crisis of overaccumulation, but the capitalists need to maintain their rates of profit and growth. Theyre compelled to. And on top of every other disruption, the rising labor costs bite the hardest.
So the capitalists have been waging full-bore class war since 2021 began. Theyve put a stop to every wealth redistribution measure going to working people - stimulus, rent moratorium, increased UI, COVID leave, COVID health coverage - except the student debt moratorium. And the way they attack rising wages is through inflation - get back the wages you're forced to pay out through increased prices. The 70s are back, baby. :lt-dbyf-dubois:
There are numerous reasons why inflation has been creeping up - supply chains are still being disrupted and are fragile (China's perpetual lockdowns are big here), demand is badly outpacing supply (the stimulus played a big role here), and there's obviously just outright gouging going on especially with fuel. At its base inflation is just capitalists maintaining profit margins by passing rising production costs downstream to the consumer, especially labor costs when those can't be slashed.
But the single biggest reason it's happening now is the pandemic-exacerbated labor shortage. The disease literally killed a million Americans, the vast majority of them working people, who were in turn disproportionately in food service and retail. It induced millions more to retire early, or to stay home to take care of kids while schools, or to become very picky with their job openings because they now want to stay working from home, quitting shifty jobs because there are so many more vacancies now, etc. In short: *the disruption of the pandemic has swung the advantage in bargaining power away from capital toward labor for the first time in FIFTY years. This means even without the pressure of government legislation or organized labor, employers have to raise wages to attract workers, even in retail and food service where wages almost never go up without federal minimum wage increases. In these industries wages have gone up at least $4-5/he.
This is all coming at a time where actually profitable investments are drying up everywhere and an era of large growth at the top of the economy due to a decade of a glut of easy credit and low interest rates is coming to a halt. We have long had a running crisis of overaccumulation, but the capitalists need to maintain their rates of profit and growth. Theyre compelled to. And on top of every other disruption, the rising labor costs bite the hardest.
So the capitalists have been waging full-bore class war since 2021 began. Theyve put a stop to every wealth redistribution measure going to working people - stimulus, rent moratorium, increased UI, COVID leave, COVID health coverage - except the student debt moratorium. And the way they attack rising wages is through inflation - get back the wages you're forced to pay out through increased prices. The 70s are back, baby. :lt-dbyf-dubois: