The paycheck doesn’t stretch. That’s where it starts. Not with inflation theory or central bank jargon. It begins at the gas pump, the grocery aisle, the rent invoice stapled to the door. The average worker earns more than last year but walks away with less. The dollar has weight, but no muscle.
The Federal Reserve unloaded more than nine trillion dollars into the system over the last few years. That didn’t create prosperity. It diluted it. Home prices spiked. Food prices followed. The cost of shelter rose faster than any wage increase. And the so-called stimulus barely touched the working man’s wallet before it floated up the chain.
Inflation is still running hot. The last CPI print showed a 3.2 percent annual rise. Food’s up 5.1 percent. Shelter’s worse, at 6.4 percent. Hourly earnings ticked up, but not enough to buy back what was lost. A worker might see an extra fifty bucks in their paycheck. The landlord takes sixty. The grocery store takes the rest.
Buy a house? Not anymore. The AEI Housing Center’s most recent data shows the income needed to buy a median-priced home is $117,000. The average household doesn’t come close. That dream isn’t delayed. It’s dissolved.
Wall Street isn’t hurting. The S&P 500 roared back this year. So did private equity. So did the tech class. The richest Americans have added over $1.5 trillion to their net worth since January. Not because they worked harder. Because the Fed played favorites.
The central bank bought junk bonds and backed asset prices. Then it raised rates too late and left the middle class to carry the fallout. Dollar strength is a myth when it buys half as much.
They called it accommodation. They called it soft landing. But the impact was blunt and it landed on the backs of the people who work, save, and play by the rules. The ones who don’t own stock. The ones who don’t get bailed out.
This wasn’t a policy misfire. It was a choice. And the ones who made it still sign off the meetings. Still get the pension. Still pass the bill.
Sources:
https://tacticalinvestor.com/a-deeper-look-into-currency-debasement/
https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/publications/mpr_default.htm
