if you weight inflation baskets by how discretionary the spending is i dont think wages are higher. theyre much lower. you cant live in an iphone but you can easily live without one.
“Inflation in core needs, deflation in everything else, wage stagnation.”
This has been called in-deflation or disinflation and has been the dominant paradigm since the turn of the century, at least in the US and much of the developed world.
The terminal end state of the disinflationary economy is desperate people living check to check but carrying supercomputers with instant access to all knowledge and all media in their pockets.
Wages have risen a bit lately (in real terms even after inflation) but not nearly enough to undo 20 years of the above pattern.
Food, water, and clothing are cheaper than ever. Healthcare and tuition are less fundamental needs. So that really only leaves shelter as the one "most necessary thing" that has increased in cost.
> Healthcare and tuition are less fundamental need
Eye, people who are sick and uneducated are very employable, have good prospects in life
> Food, water, and clothing are cheaper than eve
yes and no, we prodyce loads of unhealthy food cheaply, you wont starve. Fresh produce costs, organic, ethicslly farmed stuff us really expensive. The latter is probavly a closer comparison to food as it was produced in good old days
I didn't say they were unimportant, I said they were less fundamental. Refer to the hierarchy of needs: health is higher on the pyramid than food, clothing, and shelter.
I don't personally shop at Hot Topic, however, being largely furless, clothing is essential for the perpetuation of the species in many climate regions. Cancer hasn't been able to stop us anywhere.
if you weight inflation baskets by how discretionary the spending is i dont think wages are higher. theyre much lower. you cant live in an iphone but you can easily live without one.