Most people think of inflation like the neighborhood barking dog - it's persistently annoying, but never quite annoying enough to do anything about.
Inflation is actually more like a rabid leach that surrounds your life and slowly sucks your value to society away, day and night, weekends, holidays, always. It's a nasty evil that oh-so-gradually steals from you in tiny amounts that you don't notice, but if you took a step back and added it all up, you'd get so furious that you'd go shoot your neighbor's dog.
Thank god coronavirus came around and forced the government to "print" so much money that it jacked up the cost of groceries suddenly and made everyone at least feel a glimpse of what's actually going on. Let's see how it works -
Currently there are 23,271,550,000 US dollars in the world, call that "the money." If you earn 50,000 dollars annually, this means that 0.000215% of "the money" is getting funneled into your scammy ass bank account each year.
If the government "prints" (creates out of thin air) 23,271,550,000 more dollars, there is still 50,000 of them being siphoned into your awful bank account, but now it's only 0.000107% of the money. You just got a 50% pay-cut dumbass.
You're getting pay cuts every year to the amount of [inflation] minus [whatever measley raise you get]. Think of money as a percentage, not a dollar amount. Bread doesn't cost $5, it costs 0.0000000215% of "the money." That's the correct way to think about it. If the government prints 7% more money in a year, and you get a 3% raise, you got a 4% pay cut and everything about you is now 4% shittier. It's basically that simple.
FAQ: why don't employers match cost-of-living raises to inflation?
Hmmmm I dunno, probably because that would make way too much sense and reality would fuck itself. Or maybe bosses simply don't understand how inflation works. God forbid they know exactly how inflation works, but they take you for a chump, and sleep like a baby on the notion that you're happy about your little raise. It's a cesspool of greed, obviously.
How do I know this? Because it's me, I'm that boss. I make managerial decisions at my company, and I want more money just like you. I know it's hard to believe, but I care more about my family than yours. Sorry not sorry. Can you honestly say you wouldn't do the same?
But I'm helping you now, so listen up. It's not entirely greedy bosses at fault here. Let's dive even deeper.
If inflation (government theft) is taking a percentage of your buying power each year, then where does your lost buying power go? Maybe your corporate higher-ups wet their beaks a little, but it's really not corporate bosses that see the money.
The answer is - your lost buying power gets magically redirected from your life into whoever is closest to the federal money printing faucet at the time. If Republicans are in power, it goes to the hokey-pokey wing-ding right wing bureaucratic muck pile. If the Democrats are in power, it gets sloshed into the hokey-pokey dipshit left wing bureaucratic suck pile. All thanks to some dickhead named Maynard Keynes (not Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of Tool and Perfect Circle and Puscifer (wtf is a Puscifer actually?)) who convinced society that this printing money thing is "totally not theft" and the government can do whatever in gods green earth they feel like with "the money."
Leftist, righty, liberal, conservative, Trump, Biden, Senator Suckpile.. no matter what political flavor of the day you prefer, it's a big money suck. I'm not complaining, that's just the cost of living in a modern society with paved roads and AI-powered warships defending your cuddly fuzzy way of life. It's just the way it is.
Fortunately, there is a solution to all this. Unfortunately, I am not legally allowed to give financial advice, so.. apologies and good luck out there.
Buy bitcoin, dumbass.