We read and watch a variety of news, government statistics, blogs, youtube videos and more all based on the theory that to understand what people are saying and doing will reflect on the broader economy. What we’ve been seeing and reading lately has led us to conclude that the Labor-Wage paradigm in the United States and many Western economies is completely broken.
First, let’s start with a mad push to unionize everything. In Los Angeles, strippers want to unionize with the actors equity association. Trader Joe’s, Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, Google, and others are all facing unionization efforts and the companies often react by firing employees or shutting down locations.
Second, the problem doesn’t stop at major retailers and businesses unionizing. American University has a pending strike as do rail workers which could cause massive disruption to the supply chain ecosystem.
Third, we’ve written about the current and growing shortages of teachers, air traffic controllers, pilots, government workers, and others so it begs the question: what the hell is going on?
With inflation running red hot at 8 percent or higher for the past year, it is understandable that people are angry and frustrated but why is no one addressing the problem? The push to unionization is a natural reaction and evolution of not getting anyone in the business community to address the issues.
For a perspective of what young people are often thinking or experiencing the subreddit forum Antiwork offers a treasure trove of opinions and insights.
We conclude that the labor and wage paradigm is totally and utterly broken and we can foresee that the problem will continue to grow as workers opt to move to the highest paying bidder or opt out of the country altogether and seek higher standard of living and lower costs in a foreign country. We’ll analyze the situation and find a way to profit from it.
In the meantime, stay tuned and stay solvent…