Experts are saying that inflation has hit Americans harder
than expected; if someone did not see this coming, I don’t know why we’d call
them an expert.
The feds are definitely going to pull back on bonds in the
coming weeks. And in the summer of 2022, interest rates are going to start
going up. Houses will be selling like hotcakes through the month of June and
then it will begin to slow down. Prices, however, will not be going down.
Prices only go down when money is worth as much as the printed value on it;
that’s not the case post-inflation.
Incomes will be greatly improved by the summer. This has
nothing to do with policymakers pushing for higher, minimum wages; it’s going
to be fueled by the demand for workers. Employers who want to survive this
transition are going to have to pay much higher wages and give up a lot of
their bottom line. The upside to doing so will be the ability to remain viable
until inflation catches up with the reset. Absolutely everything is going to
cost more; much more. Every retailer or service provider will have to make
rationing decisions and slow their own growth so as not to become kindling for
the changes in the markets. Wages and prices will need to go up. Any employer
who refuses to raise wages will not recover their workforce and without a
workforce, they’ll fail.
Home prices will continue to go up. So will everything else.
As wages are increased, affordability will meet the new prices. Personal,
fiscal growth is still going to be doable, and small companies could capitalize
by hiring the best workers while the huge, super-retailers refuse to give up
massive profits they typically enjoy by paying very little for products, and
paying very low wages.
This could be the end of huge department stores and the
beginning of a new kind of opportunity for startups. Quality is key. Hire the
best workers and pay them well. Sell the best products and provide the best
services and build a strong, small company while the mega-stores struggle to
find people who will work for almost nothing.
Just a few years ago, most mom-and-pop companies had to sell
out or give up under the pressure of super-chains. I think we may see the
opposite scenario taking place soon. Workers are holding out for better wages
and consumers are looking for higher quality and better services. These ideas
go against everything that makes a mega-store or a monopoly.
This is not gloom and doom… unless you are a Superstore that
was doing really well when you could buy really cheap products and have them
shipped for very little, while paying your workforce just enough to buy some of
the junk you were peddling.
