While Business America is focusing on protecting its precious revenues, its customers and labor force are rebelling by walking away.
All of us see shrinkflation every day: the 16 ounce container is now 13 ounces, the breakfast cereal box is now so narrow it falls over, and so on.
More subtly, the quality of ingredients is also reducing: observant customers note that salt, sugar and “artificial flavors” are progressively utilized to mask the decrease of quality as manufacturers scrape the bottom of the barrel to eke out a profit.
A recent NPR post proposes another type of untracked inflation: Skimpflation, the decline of services as costs march higher. Meet Skimpflation: A Factor Inflation Is Worse Than The Government States It Is (via C.A.).
The short article keeps in mind that skimpflation isn’t simply a reflection of greedy corporations squeezing consumers to fatten profits (cough, Disney, cough)–Skimpflation is a direct outcome of the labor force declining to take tasks in which they are treated as effects.
The short article discusses the wholesale decline of service that traces back to the scarcity of labor: long waits, spotty maid service (hi pal, you attempt raising those super-jumbo bed mattress to embed sheets all day for garbage-level pay), the death of breakfast buffets and Disneyland’s still-defunct cable car service (entry prices have soared, but never ever mind– you have to come here, right, since we persuaded your kids, so pay up and stopped talking since you need to pay, there is no other way out.)
As I have actually been stating for a long time, labor has actually been devalued and denigrated for years, most just recently in my discussion with Max Keiser.
In an economy obsessed with measuring cash, economists concentrate on pay and advantages, as if those metrics are all that matters. What about being valued, having some state about one’s work, being appreciated for one’s efforts and making self-respect, not just quickly depreciating dollars? None of those realities ever go into traditional economics, however that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
It’s not just low pay that makes work wretched, it’s being treated as an item owned by the employer. Exploitation comes in many tastes, and they all taste bad.
There’s another element neglected of economic experts’ obsession with counting dollars: the general public is increasingly unhinged, and those having to handle the public are paying a significantly steep rate. Flight attendants are being assaulted, employees are being threatened, cussed out, and so on. Who desires a task where somebody seeking to vent their rage can unload on an employee?
Labor’s quiet disobedience is feeding a self-reinforcing feedback loop of collapse: Corporate America, so familiar with treating its labor force like donkeys– simply load on more work– has reacted to labor shortages by increasing the workload of those still on the job, stressing out the staying employees in the process.
This Darwinian feedback– those happy to remain on the task are soon squashed by overwork and screaming clients– increases the pressure on managers to cut services and load more deal with whomever is left as the sole methods of conference management’s relentless demands for more sales and revenues as the methods to do so fall off a cliff.
The Financial Nobility’s response– offer the super-wealthy more trillions– isn’t trickling down to the real world. Conjuring cash out of thin air while altering definitely nothing in the real-world economy is not going to force workers to take goods tasks which just get more oppressive with each passing day.
Envision the berobed noble being driven down from the castle to address his army of indebted serfs and you have a picture of Corporate America: oh how sweet and endearing the worthy’s incorrect phrases of appreciation, and then the whip comes out.
It’s not simply the workforce that’s rebelling– consumers will ultimately rebel, too. The option to corporate scrimping on service is to just stop giving them cash. Do not wait in line for lessened products, don’t schedule the room or flight, do something much better (and more gratifying) with your money and time.
The returns on attempting to make all this go away by providing another trillion or three to the super-rich are lessening fast. Quiet Disobedience results in mass exodus which leads to a death-spiral of diminishing spending, debt and the amount and quality of items and services, due to the fact that the Prime Instruction is boost profits or you’re gone.
While Corporate America is concentrating on preserving its valuable profits, valuable stock market bubble and a lot more valuable billionaires, its clients and labor force are rebelling by walking away. Good luck wooing them back with decreasing quality in both tasks and products. While we glorify self-glorifying, very conceited billionaires, the economy is quietly collapsing beneath the rah-rah cheerleading narrative. Reduce the acquiring power of wages for 45 years as you fill on more work and ultimately the banquet of consequences is served: Hey Mr. Billionaire, take this task and your rocket and shove it.
If you discovered worth in this content, please join me in looking for options by becoming a $1/month client of my work through patreon.com.
My brand-new book is available! A Hacker’s Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet 20% and 15% discount rates (Kindle $7, print $17, audiobook now offered $17.46)
Read excerpts of the book for free (PDF).
The Story Behind the Book and the Intro.
Current Videos/Podcasts:
Charles Hugh Smith on the Failure of the Federal Reserve and Increasing Nonreligious Inflation (31:16) (with Richard Bonugli, FRA Roundtable)
4 beast waves that are about to crash onto the Fed’s beach celebration (with Gordon Long, 40 minutes.)
My current books:
A Hacker’s Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking World (Kindle $8.95, print $20, audiobook $17.46) Read the very first section totally free (PDF).
Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Revenue, Power, and AI in a Shocked World
(Kindle $5, print $10, audiobook) Read the first area totally free (PDF).
Pathfinding our Fate: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic ($5 (Kindle), $10 (print), ( audiobook): Check out the first area for free (PDF).
The Experiences of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake $1.29 (Kindle), $8.95 (print); checked out the very first chapters totally free (PDF)
Cash and Work Unchained $6.95 (Kindle), $15 (print) Read the very first area free of charge (PDF).
Become a $1/month patron of my work by means of patreon.com.
NOTE: Contributions/subscriptions are acknowledged in the order received. Your name and email remain personal and will not be offered to any other private, business or company.
|
Thank you, Mark P. ($54), for your splendidly generous contribution to this site– I am considerably honored by your assistance and readership. |
Thank you |
, Steve S. ($5/month), for your marvelously generous pledge to this site– I am significantly honored by your unfaltering assistance and readership. |
|
Thank you, Charles S. ($54), for your wonderfully generous contribution to this website– I am significantly honored by your support and readership. |
Thank you |
, Christopher F. ($5/month), for your magnificently generous promise to this website– I am considerably honored by your assistance and readership. |