Cost of living as inflation continue

[c00face]

What do you think is the minimal hourly rate should be as inflation continues? I use to think making $30 an hour was great and allow me to take care of myself, but as inflation continues... feels like $30/hour is the minimal needed. Seems like even with higher pay rate, you still won't be able to get the items you want unless you pay a hefty premium for it in the thousands. As cost of living goes up, do you think investing in solar panels and electric cars are the right move? And how much are you willing to pay for a home as most decent sized home are now in the $400,000 range in the US with a 4.5% interest rate? What jobs do you think is more 'secure' if we ever enter a sort of Great Depression?

[thrasher_565]

2 hours ago, c00face said:

What do you think is the minimal hourly rate should be as inflation continues? I use to think making $30 an hour was great and allow me to take care of myself, but as inflation continues... feels like $30/hour is the minimal needed. Seems like even with higher pay rate, you still won't be able to get the items you want unless you pay a hefty premium for it in the thousands. As cost of living goes up, do you think investing in solar panels and electric cars are the right move? And how much are you willing to pay for a home as most decent sized home are now in the $400,000 range in the US with a 4.5% interest rate? What jobs do you think is more 'secure' if we ever enter a sort of Great Depression?

inflation is 100% crated by the feds...that print moeny

shipping is bottle necked by the drivers with a bs fee for not off loading the trailer to pick up another container but the shipping yard wont take the container off... so truckers are mad atm...

 

more truckers wont fix the problem.

 

there are vary wealthy people the profit off crises  so no intensive to fix it.

 

$20 will be the new minimum wage just you watch... sad truth is we dont need people any more as most jobs can be automated...

[YellowJersey]

This is going to be highly variable due to different costs of living in different areas. My pay allows me to live pretty comfortably where I am, but I probably couldn't even make rent if I lived in a cardboard box under the Gardiner in Toronto.

[Moonzy]

2 hours ago, c00face said:

feels like $30/hour is the minimal needed

bruh, imagine working 30 hour and you get the monthly salary of a fresh grad engineer in my place

 

feels like this post is a literal first world problem

[Rauten]

4 hours ago, Moonzy said:

bruh, imagine working 30 hour and you get the monthly salary of a fresh grad engineer in my place

feels like this post is a literal first world problem

More like a US // large city problem.

If I got paid that, I'd only need to work 1, maybe 2 40-hour weeks a month. And I'm in Spain, which is part of the "first world".

[Kadzo]

Literally first world problems, here if you have 8$ and hour you are middle class  

[FliP0x]

This depends on where you live, eg. cost of food, housing etc.

 

I always cringe when I read articles about US citizens demanding a 15$/hr minimum wage. I understand that 15$ is quite low for US standards.

 

I make about 7 $ per hour and I live comfortably in my country. Heck, if I made twice that amount I'd live like a king, quite literally.

[Avocado Diaboli]

It's always amusing to see people from low-income countries chime in and claim that this is a "first-world problem". It isn't. If your cost of living were to rise quicker than your salary keeps up, it doesn't matter if you make $5/h or $50/h, the relative difference is meaningless. What matters is the purchasing power, meaning the real value you can buy with your local currency. If a kg of bread suddenly costs twice as much everywhere, it doesn't matter if it costs $0.50 instead of $0.25 in your place if in a much richer country it now costs $5 instead of $2.50. What matters is that prices have risen quicker than wages.

[Anghammarad]

It feels like most wages have been hard locked for many years. 

 

I, for a long time had a yearly income of roughly €60k ... In my best years I was over 80 due to bonus etc... 

Right now, even though being a Head of IT position, I am barely above 60k ... well this company is still quite small so I can accept a few downgrades. 

 

But like said in another discussion, in my view, if in a family (couple, kid, 1.5 pets) only one works full time (40 hours/week) no matter the job, it should bring enough income, to have a roof (home), food, car (if needed) and still have a little left to safe for a vacation or bad times. And this no matter if you flip burges, pack groceries in bags, be a greeter, cleaning job, office job, no matter what. 

 

 

[Ultra_Kaiju]

every time I get a raise it just seems like I pay more and more taxes but don't actually see my paycheck go up. 

 

the Gov created the inflation problem because they've been handing out money like candy over the past couple years. 

[Alcarin]

Well considering the US federal government in all of its wisdom has printed over 2/3, if not more, of all of the US dollars ever in existence over the last 2 years... yea there's a problem.

 

I've been against the idea of stimulus checks since the beginning, as handing out free money with nothing to back it up (hurray printing money!) is a very dangerous proposition. It's a short-term feel-good measure for pats on the back among politicians, but it has caused a great deal of damage to the US economy, probably long-term.

 

I get that people got hit hard by the pandemic, I got laid off from a good job because of it. But handing out free money created out of thin air to over a hundred million people, if not 200M... that was a mistake that will come back to bite us soon.

 

In terms of buying a home, I'm definitely not in any financial position to even consider it tbh. My job pays around $29 an hour and I still feel the pinch when it comes to my rent and other living expenses, especially since I live in California.

 

I rent, so solar panels aren't gonna happen; and I don't currently have an electric car, but I would like to get one soon.

 

Tech jobs should always be in demand, so long as we remain a technological civilization.

[GhostRoadieBL]

Bank of Canada will say that housing should cost no more than 30% of your monthly income with another 10-20% going to essentials (food, transportation, clothing etc) and the rest being savings and non-essentials

 

Average 1 bedroom rent in our area is $1800/month so if you use the bank's % breakdown each person in a single bedroom apartment should make $5800/month (after taxes) so around $40+/h for 35h per week.

This is definitely not the case with the average wage being half that so either wages or cost of living needs to be adjusted.

 

Some companies have even started buying housing for their prospective employees to ease the cost of moving and finding a house. The local university offers interest free loans to incoming teachers so they can buy a condo.

 

It's really coming down to living wage supported by large business tax increases or a market crash to reset the run away inflation we're seeing. (there's a lot of US in 2008 signs in the Canadian housing market)

[Zodiark1593]

41 minutes ago, GhostRoadieBL said:

Bank of Canada will say that housing should cost no more than 30% of your monthly income with another 10-20% going to essentials (food, transportation, clothing etc) and the rest being savings and non-essentials

 

Average 1 bedroom rent in our area is $1800/month so if you use the bank's % breakdown each person in a single bedroom apartment should make $5800/month (after taxes) so around $40+/h for 35h per week.

This is definitely not the case with the average wage being half that so either wages or cost of living needs to be adjusted.

 

Some companies have even started buying housing for their prospective employees to ease the cost of moving and finding a house. The local university offers interest free loans to incoming teachers so they can buy a condo.

 

It's really coming down to living wage supported by large business tax increases or a market crash to reset the run away inflation we're seeing. (there's a lot of US in 2008 signs in the Canadian housing market)

Problem with having a crash is that jobs tend to disappear rapidly as well, ramping up competition for a limited number of jobs, and many people getting absolutely nothing (owing to being pushed out of the workforce) instead of a moderately devalued currency. A tight job market also tends to kill most, if not all leverage employees may have held. Why provide better compensation or working conditions when there are people out there desperate for any work at all? Additionally, heavy stock market devaluations will hit those that would otherwise have enough equity to weather a storm.

 

Given the myriad of terrible options available (and make no mistake, I hate this aggressive inflationary environment), allowing a recession or outright crash to happen, I feel, will be more damaging overall.

 

I'd be in support of increasing taxes on larger businesses. I feel power should be in favor of individuals over business, so I don't object. However, successful implementation relies upon a world-wide effort, else a business could move elsewhere..

[Monkey Dust]

House prices, and consequently rents, have been rising faster than wages for over a decade at this point. Something was going to break sooner or later, and IMO it needs to happen, although it is going to be very painful at this point. The recent inflation spike and the quantitive easing over the pandemic has just hurried things up, the cause IMO (again) dates back to the global financial crash.

 

I think we will see an asset price reduction, more than wage inflation, which would still ease the cost of living for many. But with so many things out of not just our control, as workers/consumers, but out of the control of governments and central banks, we could end up anywhere.

 

Another thought; The baby boomer generation is transitioning out of work and into retirement, and in many countries that generation is larger (despite having an extra 50 years in which to die) than the zoomers who are entering the work force. The percentage of the population that is of working age is shrinking in many countries, so for all the bleakness in the economy, at least unemployment is likely to remain low, and competition for employees should drive up pay and conditions.

[Blademaster91]

This sounds like more of a living in an expensive city problem than it does making $30 an hour not being enough.

[wseaton]

Housing costs have gone up because of simple supply and demand. We haven't been building enough houses and apts, and this is compounded with a population exodus from inner cities due to unrest and crime. I have friends who are builders and they have more business they can handle. There is also a significant shortage of people who can do what they do. 

 

Economist Larry Summers has been brutally on point about inflation. We shut the economy off, printed lots of money, gave it to middle class families who didn't need it, then flipped the switch back on. Boom. Massive inflation. 

 

I'm sorry, but most people I hear promoting a living wage have newer cars than me, get more toys from Amazon, have jacked up credit card debt and dont live within their means. Im part owner of a bar and restraunt and we pay dishwashers $15 an hour in a low cost of living area and we can't keep them. Friends of mine are graduating with computer science degrees and only making a couple bucks more an hour. Something is seriously wrong here. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how a democrat president is saying "drill baby drill" as well.

 

Want to make good Money? Become a electrician or plumber. You won't make good money at Amazon because the nanosecond they can automate for improved productivity they will slash head counts.

 

 

 

 

[wolverine104]

Quote

Economist Larry Summers has been brutally on point about inflation. We shut the economy off, printed lots of money, gave it to middle class families who didn't need it, then flipped the switch back on. Boom. Massive inflation. 

A lot of people don't seem to really get this. The economic lull created in the beginning stages of the pandemic was almost artificial. The economy stopped because we stopped it. When it got going again, Jobs were filled with higher salaries, massive spending on big purchases like homes and cars were still being made by people who wanted to, and things are more or less back to where they were with the economy. Instant recipe for inflation. Worst part about it was that it was totally predictable. 

[Luke_Shystalker]

Yeah the stimulus payments really hurt us.

[steelo]

'Free' money everybody!

 

What could possibly go wrong?

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

On 4/5/2022 at 2:28 PM, Blademaster91 said:

This sounds like more of a living in an expensive city problem than it does making $30 an hour not being enough.

Sure... I would happily move out of the city I was born and raised in because some rich fucks have turned the local housing market into an investment playground. Just move to another city, another country. Find a new job, find a new industry to work in. How hard can it be?  

[Vishera]

On 4/5/2022 at 5:59 AM, c00face said:

What do you think is the minimal hourly rate should be as inflation continues?

Wrong question.

It should be more like:

What shall we do to fight and reverse inflation so that our salaries will be worth as much as they used to?

And my answer to that is to significantly reduce the production of paper bills,and destroy lots of paper bills to create a shortage.

A shortage "bad" enough to cause prices to plummet and increase the value of our money.

But that has to be done carefully so that the economy won't spiral into severe deflation.

We must hit a balance of price/availability of cash and stay there.

[rrats]

That's nothing compared to what's been happening in some European countries. Like I'm not poor but these inflated prices seem just like a waste of money.

[Ababba]

Welcome to build back better where the government causes inflation to make everyone poor and then comes up with the solution to save you and all it will cost is your standard of living.

 

That $20,000 gas car is bad for the environment, buy a $50,000 electric one instead. Used? You need to buy a new $20,000 battery for it first. Enjoy public transportation.

 

Want a nice steak dinner? Those cost like $15 a piece now, eat bugs instead, cows are bad for the environment.

 

Want to keep you family warm in the winter, enjoy the extra $50 dollars a month carbon tax on your gas bill.

 

The middle class is bad for the environment.

[Zodiark1593]

41 minutes ago, Ababba said:

Welcome to build back better where the government causes inflation to make everyone poor and then comes up with the solution to save you and all it will cost is your standard of living.

 

That $20,000 gas car is bad for the environment, buy a $50,000 electric one instead. Used? You need to buy a new $20,000 battery for it first. Enjoy public transportation.

 

Want a nice steak dinner? Those cost like $15 a piece now, eat bugs instead, cows are bad for the environment.

 

Want to keep you family warm in the winter, enjoy the extra $50 dollars a month carbon tax on your gas bill.

 

The middle class is bad for the environment.

Inflation is a two-pronged problem caused by excessive money printing (keep in mind this was a bipartisan decision in the US, especially early in the pandemic), and too few goods due to ongoing supply chain issues and their varying ripple effects, of which itself has numerous causes. 
 

To best describe the state of the economy would be like running multiple servers with dozens of drives in a giant RAID 0 array. Throughput is quite high, but there’s little to no redundancy within the system, allowing seemingly remote failures or shortfalls to cause vicious ripple effects for everyone. Additional money supply means buyers are able to drive up prices, amplifying the inflation.  

[Ababba]

40 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

(keep in mind this was a bipartisan decision in the US, especially early in the pandemic)

 

It's great to know they can come to an agreement to screw us all over while they vote to give themselves raises.