Wealth inequality and the Fed's inflationary monetary policy

[SilverSamurai]

Asset bubbles froth
As inflation taxes wealth
Goodbye middle class

 

[Joe King]

equal right s is a myth.

Because people pay different amounts.

If you had to pay for milk 50x what everyone else was paying, wouldn't you expect to get to be at the front of the line too? It would only be reasonable.

Everyone paying the same makes everyone have the same pull with the gov as you or I do now.

 

[WinkWink]

 

[pmbug]

Over time, higher costs and sluggish wage growth have left more Americans financially vulnerable, with many known as “ALICEs.”

Nearly 40 million families, or 29% of the population, fall in the category of ALICE — Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — according to United Way’s United for ALICE program, which first coined the term to refer to households earning above the poverty line but less than what’s needed to get by.

That figure doesn’t include the 37.9 million Americans who live in poverty, comprising 11.5% of the total population, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
...
The term ALICE “essentially describes what people in the lower middle class have seen for decades, they can just cover current needs but not easily generate a surplus to cover the cost of a home or investments like stocks or bonds,” said Columbia Business School economics professor Brett House.

“It’s an acute situation for more people now than a few years ago,” House added.

Stubborn inflation has driven many households near the breaking point, but the pain of high prices has not been shared equally.

By most measures, low-income households have been hardest hit, experts say. The lowest-paid workers spend more of their income on necessities such as food, rent and gas, which also experienced higher-than-average inflation spikes.
...

More:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/29/29percent-of-us-households-have-jobs-but-struggle-to-cover-basic-needs.html?qsearchterm=29%25%20alice

I spent a little bit of time skimming over the United for ALICE website and that 29% figure was from data collected in 2021. I don't see where they might have published any data more recent than that:

National Overview | UnitedForALICE

www.unitedforalice.org

 

[pmbug]

Some of America's best-known corporations are saying their consumers are being pinched by inflation as prices continue rising.

Inflation has dominated corporate America's discourse over the past three years following the pandemic-induced easing of monetary policy and trillions of dollars in Covid relief. Though the pace of price growth has cooled since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in early 2022, consumers are still feeling the squeeze — and often tightening purse strings — as costs continue climbing.

"It is clear that broad-based consumer pressures persist around the world," McDonald's

CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the fast food chain's earnings call early Tuesday. "Consumers continue[d] to be even more discriminating with every dollar that they spend as they faced elevated prices in their day-to-day spending."

Sticky inflation has created a dark cloud over how everyday Americans perceive the health of the economy. Consumer confidence in April hit its lowest level since mid-2022 as high prices remained top of mind, according to data released Tuesday by the Conference Board.

Worker pay has continued rising, as evidenced by first quarter employment cost statistics released Tuesday. But so, too, have the prices paid by the typical consumer, biting into the extra income from those higher wages.
...

More:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/30/companies-from-mcdonalds-to-3m-warn-inflation-is-squeezing-consumers.html

 

[Casey Jones]

Inflation always destroys an economy.

That's part of the cycle. As a society ages and ossifies, the Elites jettison morality or appreciation for their privileged class and ranks. Fiat money, currency debasement and resultant seigniorage (the privileged elites getting first access to the new money) immediately makes the chosen classes prosper.

So it's continued and usually amped up. The bourgeoisie and merchant classes see their savings destroyed, their costs explode, their customer base evaporate. Those who once had income, from their craft or their customer base, now have it cut or find themselves unable to find employment. Poverty abounds; social unrest grows. Depending on the culture, either the masses settle into a huge starving hoard, or they riot and the leadership is exiled or executed.

The end result is the same, though. The economy collapses and the society loses all structure, all social order and control.

We're seeing it now. The cheapest prepared food, probably in all human history, is the McDonald's hamburger. And now people cannot afford it. For 90 years, our society has been rich enough to support cafes, diners, and then fast-food...now, the average person cannot afford it.

It's the Grapes of Wrath writ large and in real-life. Worse...back then, the victims of that economic collapse had family and faith. We have none of that; and HUGE numbers of the population are neurologically damaged by this Satanic medical experiment.