Inflation? What Inflation - LOL

I see superintendents making $120K-$250K a year. Personally, I consider that a high wage.
I agree that's on the higher end of the spectrum as far as wages, but at 120k salary, can you even buy a house right now? Especially in a metro area. With interest rates, taxes, insurance, utilities, and groceries. I don't see 120k working out in current condition which is sad. And 120k definitely isn't the normal for most of America.
 
$120K is almost twice what I made my first year as a lawyer, but I get that was a hot minute ago. It’s a damn good wage for someone with no education and a few years of experience, especially if you are single. And if you are willing to travel, the subsistence rates are pretty crazy (last I checked I think Nevada is about a $160 per day bump on top of wage). That’s potentially a $50K bump in a year. I see traveling guys pulling their 5th wheel from city to city making incredible money and pocketing the subsistence as extra pay.

Home buying is a whole different issue and I appreciate how buying power has been severely impacted by many things including rising interest rates, rising price of materials and labor, and supply that doesn’t equal demand. The housing prices in the metro areas of Idaho are crazy dumb; but 90% of that is due to all cash buyers coming in from other states that they are escaping. We don’t need anymore C.O.W.s in Idaho!!!
 

From the article:
“According to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, in 1971, 61% of the nation was middle class. As of 2023, that number has dropped to 51%.”

Every country in the world has rich people and poor people. There are fabulously wealthy individuals in every shit-hole country in the world along with tons of poor people. What’s sets America apart is our middle class, the percentage of middle class is (or was) very high. The shit-hole countries have very few middle class. I see a trend…..
 

From the article:
“According to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, in 1971, 61% of the nation was middle class. As of 2023, that number has dropped to 51%.”

Every country in the world has rich people and poor people. There are fabulously wealthy individuals in every shit-hole country in the world along with tons of poor people. What’s sets America apart is our middle class, the percentage of middle class is (or was) very high. The shit-hole countries have very few middle class. I see a trend…..
This has been the plan all along. Coyotes watching the hen house.
 

That the American Dream--homeownership and steady improvements in earning and wealth--is out of reach of most young Americans is painfully obvious, and their response is Financial Nihilism: borrowing and spending freely to enjoy whatever is still within reach and giving up on homeownership and retirement, a trend captured in acronyms such as YOLO (you only live once).
 

That the American Dream--homeownership and steady improvements in earning and wealth--is out of reach of most young Americans is painfully obvious, and their response is Financial Nihilism: borrowing and spending freely to enjoy whatever is still within reach and giving up on homeownership and retirement, a trend captured in acronyms such as YOLO (you only live once).
This is one of the reasons we have inflation…people spend money they don’t have…they carry enormous debt with no fiscal responsibility, so retailers, the service, hospitality and entertainment industries will continue to charge what they believe the market will bear…
 
The current corporate tax rate put in place by Trump is 21%. This will soon expire and Biden has pledged to raise it to 28%. My investments have very done well- due in part to that tax rate of 21%, if that goes to 28% I expect to see a drop in my returns due to increased corporate costs. They will see reduced profits or increased prices.


As far as the interest rates going down, I don’t see that happening this year and there are actually rumors of a rate increase. Time will tell. At our current deficit and debt rates you will probably never see interest rates like we had prior to Biden. If all the ‘experts’ were so smart we would not be where we are now. Remember when Janet Yellen told us “inflation is transitory “. 😂🤣


The unspoken rule of being an economist is to be an optimist. Even if there is not much to be optimistic about you don’t want to panic everyone.


The increased costs- which are real- are not simply due to inflation.
Large corporations have optimized themselves so they make virtually no profit, and thus pay virtually no income taxes. Smaller businesses are not so lucky.
 
Large corporations have optimized themselves so they make virtually no profit, and thus pay virtually no income taxes. Smaller businesses are not so lucky.
I’d love to see the actual support for that claim. Apple paid something like $16B in income taxes in 2023. I’m not sure how that is virtually nothing. I know what my company pays in taxes and it certainly isn’t a small number.
 
Yes, it is a bit on the low side. At those low wages they can easily be picked up by a competing offer. So they should be paid more as part of the retention plan.
I can assure you it’s not. We are quite aware of what S1-S3’s make and I know that pay is competitive…especially with full family health benefits added in, vehicle allowance, etc. We recruit from all over the country and perform work in 42 states and 8 other countries, so we have a pretty good pulse on the market.
 
I’d love to see the actual support for that claim. Apple paid something like $16B in income taxes in 2023. I’m not sure how that is virtually nothing. I know what my company pays in taxes and it certainly isn’t a small number.
$16B on $400B of revenue is not bad. Most companies invest what would be profit into their own operations, or into stock buy-backs.
 
The biggest reason we have inflation is the FedGov spending money we don’t have. We are literally borrowing money to send to other countries who hate us.
We have been printing money for decades. Nixon took us off the gold standard and it’s been escalating ever since. Washington is like a bunch of toddlers with automatic weapons out of control.
Folks don’t realize the cliff we are heading towards as the world hegemon we have been able to dictate favorable trade and monetary policies. Our hegemony is slipping away since DC has overplayed their position. A financial earthquake happened just days ago and none of the financial press seem to be talking about it. When the fallout tsunami comes in late summer it’s going to get real interesting real quick for lots of folks. IOW we ain’t seen nothing yet.
 
Top Bottom