Whats funny is that US pressed the emergency button and printed money like it was water. Anyone else remember the stories from last year when we were all hearing about "US 7% gdp growth next year!" "Haha China was left behind", "US growth more than China".
Not surprisingly, many folks mistakenly believe the US "labor shortage" is a sign of a workers market... when in reality its much more because employers aren't willing to pay living wages, given that, for example, as a floor, the US federal min wage hasn't changed since 2009, yet you see the true inflation numbers are far higher than what is officially reported by CPI etc (in fact if using the governments own way of calculating inflation the formula back in the 80s and 90s, just this one year alone the real inflation is already way past double digits) .... essentially what is happening is companies cannot afford to pay more for wages (or that and the fact that if they are forced to do so they will just automate the jobs away with AI/ tech etc) while at the same time a dollar doesn't go as far as it did just a few years ago and increasingly given how American's like to drive big trucks live in big houses they cannot afford to do that on stagnant (really net negative wages if you take inflation) salary... For example last year I got a 1.5% raise, which means in effect I'm getting paid less and less each passing year....
Thats an extremely low number. I think US might be entering stagflation territory
having a survey range as wide as that yet the end number is around 30% lower than the lowest estimate should drive the entire economic planner crazy.
I think so too. Despite the 'Great Resignation,' I'm finding that wages are still flat since companies are not willing to provide increases because of rising costs due to inflation. However, if most Americans are already suffering from high debt, low savings, and increased costs for goods and services, then this could only translate to diminished consumer spending (aside from essentials).
Such a depressing future isn't inevitable. As I have noted elsewhere, only a tiny fraction of the Gobi Desert, if covered by solar panels, would satisfy China's energy needs. I mean it -- this has the potential to replace EVERY other energy source in China, even coal and hydro. But we can't just sit and waste time; we'll have to build the solar farms (and the storage batteries), or the solar power satellites.
Yes.