(I deleted this comment because I couldn't find sources, but I found a couple of relevant ones since, so I've re-posted) American hourly pay rose by 4.6% in th

(I deleted this comment because I couldn't find sources, but I found a couple of relevant ones since, so I've re-posted) American hourly pay rose by 4.6% in the year to September while consumer-price inflation of 5.4% is more than wiping out those gains. I've heard that the 5.4% figure is based on an out-dated methodology[0] and that inflation, as it affects the reality of a majority of people, is a fair bit higher than 5.4%[1]. This would mean the wage increases are easily outrun by inflation / CPI. The 2014 article[0] specifically mentions that CPI doesn't take into account the devaluing of the currency - which is a much bigger factor today than it was 7 years ago when that article was written. Various statistics about X% of all US dollars were printed in the last Y years[2][3] (maybe not the most trustworthy sources). House prices seem to be outpacing the stated inflation figure, which continues to raise the bar of income required to even consider home ownership a possibility. Whilst interest rates are very low this removes some of the regular mortgage repayment pressure, but beware the future when tapering starts and interest rates rise again, how many will go underwater, and will that be big enough to create a cascading failure of GFC proportions? And then there's Evergrande? How will China play it to their financial advantage? Lastly, because it's maybe more controversial and divisive, is the ol' WTF Happened in 1971?[4]. The top graph of that site showing wages growth has flatlined between 1971 and 2017. It feels like The Economist is acting as the mouthpiece for industry pushing the status quo, wanting to continue the rhetoric that sells out the workers for the owners; rates capital and investor returns well above the provision of labor. [0]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/perianneboring/2014/02/03/if-you-want-to-know-the-real-rate-of-inflation-dont-bother-with-the-cpi/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/perianneboring/2014/02/03/if-yo... [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/business/inflation-worse-pandemic-coronavirus.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/business/inflation-worse-... [2]: https://techstartups.com/2021/05/22/40-us-dollars-existence-printed-last-12-months-america-repeating-mistake-1921-weimar-germany/ https://techstartups.com/2021/05/22/40-us-dollars-existence-... [3]: https://www.cityam.com/almost-a-fifth-of-all-us-dollars-were-created-this-year/ https://www.cityam.com/almost-a-fifth-of-all-us-dollars-were... [4]: https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/