To a degree. Companies also have to have a stable society in which to operate, and the lowest classes in American society have zero ability to absorb any additi

To a degree. Companies also have to have a stable society in which to operate, and the lowest classes in American society have zero ability to absorb any additional costs because over the last 10-15 years, the increase in data collectability + Fed/government policy giving the indicators that the free money spigot will go on forever and the working class can suck it has meant that it's been feasible to run things where the lowest are treading water but not getting anywhere. Now that inflation is hitting, the choice is: Give those people on the bottom more money or start incurring costs in other ways. If people can't feed themselves and their families on their wages, they aren't going to slink away and die to serve the Economy: They're going to start doing things like robbing grocery stores. Which means said grocery stores have to invest in security, lose more of their (now hard to get) stock, etc. The problem is that you give the people at the bottom more money, then people in the middle wonder why they're busting their asses for only a little more than they'd get at Wal-Mart, then THEY start leaving or demanding more, and so it goes. It's almost like running a society with no resilience is a bad idea. Go figure. Likewise, a lot of businesses (especially in large cities) rely on being able to pay low wages because people commute from long distances; once energy prices get high enough, that won't work. Low wages have basically been subsidized by the government since at least 2008 and now that it's ending it's a shitshow.