POLITICS Inflation /General Finance Insanity

Guy went through all of the hurdles they had to go through to get product to market when we were chatting. It's a headache for certain. I wasn't as rude as it might seem. He asked me about the prices leading to a discussion about the area. He was a transplant from somewhere that I don't recall. This was a few months before we moved. I haven't seen them since we got back.

 

I get 100% grass fed for roughly $3.39lb for a half beef all day at my butcher. That's cut and vacuum sealed to my liking.

 

LW or HW?

 

HW

 

So around $1,200 a half?

 

Just a great comedy movie that has aged like a fine wine.

 

Last one came in just under that.

 

And five days later, gas is back down 20 cents at the same gas station. I am so confused

 

Nothing makes sense anymore.

Everyone is talking about layoffs and jobs are up 517K in January, blowing by what was expected. Consumer spending down. Manufacturing down. Wage growth down. Unemployment down to 3.4%, lowest since 1969.

Just something else.

 

I am on an island here, but it makes perfect sense. It isn't policy, it isn't a W or an L for a party. It is very simple.

More people are retiring than turning 18. It is simply a labor squeeze due to demographics. A population pyramid that has skipped leg day.

I don't know why it isn't a widespread explanation, but you can plainly see that this is a fundamental and prominent element of what is happening.

 

Nothing about economics makes sense. I loathe it because I am affected by all this crap and there is jack shit I can do about it. It makes me bitter.

 

I try to explain this to people who are saying people are just being lazy and want government hand outs. I always say "You know, millions have retired in the last two years, and we just don't have the bodies to replace them".

They always look at me like I have two heads.

 

I don’t know how most who retired can pay bills. I assume the majority didn’t retire as millionairres.

 

That's the best explanation I've heard yet.

It just....everything feel like we're ready to nosedive nationally. But maybe the labor squeeze is going to end up helping and correct things in some areas. The flip side is locally other than housing slowing down, I don't see any changes.

 

if you’re a professional you better bring value.

if you actually know a trade, welcome to naming your price.

 

We’re pretty good on demographics we’ve just focused on the wrong things but seem to be about to enter a phase of fixing that

 

If you are willing to do taxes, you can also name your price to a great extent.

 

which will continue due to how complex the tax code is so you’re going to remain in high demand, since I don’t think politicians will ever simplify things

 

Then why don't we see higher unemployment from people being left out due to skill mismatch? Why are some of the lowest skilled and entry level jobs the hardest to hire for?

Not saying we don't need more trade folks. I am pointing out we seem to need more everything.