The 1% and the Rest of Us: Why Prices Keep Rising and the Rich Keep Winning (Part 1)
- Tawanda Jazz
- Aug 1
- 5 min read
Prices in America and worldwide have been rising on a seemingly endless trajectory, yet the media and politicians say the the economy is doing so well. Where's the disconnect? For the average person, groceries, gas and other essential living costs are through the roof (and just keep rising). As we trudge through our day-to-day lives, working to barely slide by, it seems idiotic to many that a recession hasn't been declared yet.
To understand this, let's do a little Recession 101:
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is defined in Wikipedia as:
"A monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic activity of a country or region."
When the GDP has shown negative growth for two consecutive quarters, a recession is often (though not always) declared .
But do we really need an official declaration of a recession to know how broke we are? When the majority of American workers are living paycheck to paycheck (and trust me, most of the world is doing much worse than we are), watching their buying power dwindle as the cost of consumer goods, groceries, child care and more keeps skyrocketing, what do we need with government declarations? Right now, many economists and the government keep doubling down on the idea that, "financially, things aren't as bad as they seem". Well, maybe not for you.
A paper recently published in the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that the richest 1% of Americans tend to benefit from periods of high inflation, making even more money. Meanwhile, those of us making the least are hit hard. Those who have more assets (like real estate, stocks, multiple businesses, and others) do well in an economy like the current one. The rising costs of essentials like food, healthcare, and education are trivial if you're a billionaire. Essentially, working Americans are becoming more productive (hence the rising GDP) but only the wealthy are benefiting (the assets aren't "trickling down" as wages that keep up with inflation).
This royally pisses me off, but of course, we can't do anything about this. No matter how unfair, how unbelievably wrong this seems, it can't be changed by us, the average Americans scrambling to stay afloat.
Let's look at why the prices of groceries and consumer products are so high, and what we can do about it.
Bird Flu/ Livestock Pandemics
We’ve been hearing about bird flu (H5N1) for awhile, and there is good reason for that. The USDA found H5N1 in commercial poultry farms back in 2022. Since then, the poultry industry has lost 166 birds who died from the disease or were euthanized to control the outbreak. Egg prices soared. In a 2023 report, APHIS (the Animal and Plant Health Information Service, a division of the USDA) stated:
“The current 2022–2023 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is the largest and longest outbreak in the history of the United States.”
It is now 2025, and the situation has only gotten worse. The virus has shown signs of mutation and adaptation, species-jumping and finding its way into over 200 mammals, including cows and now, humans. This is the first time in history that H5N1 Avian Influenza has been found in cows.
Many factors, including the constantly rising cost of feed and medications, the culling of sick flocks and herds of cattle, and the shortage of labor (see the next item in the list for more on this) are seriously affecting the prices for consumers and the overall stability of the market.
Fewer Available Workers
There are many causes for the ongoing labor shortage, but one of the most significant causes is a demographic one. The Baby Boomer have been aging out of the workplace. Boomers were born roughly between 1946 and 1964, which puts them in the age bracket of 61 and 79. The Bureau of Labor is predicting that 6 million workers will join the workforce between 2022-2032. To put that into perspective, in the 1970s, a similar ten-year period saw the workforce grow by 25 million. Of course, that's not the whole story. The US has been a nation of immigrants since its inception. When fewer citizens choose to have children, as is happening now, immigrants can fill the gap. Instead, the current administration has responded with a false and counterproductive moral panic about the selfishness of American women and the criminality of non-citizens. With deportation rates going up sharply and ICE roaming the streets, there are suddenly a lot of businesses without laborers to keep their businesses going. Farms, especially, have suffered, with crops in California being left unharvested, causing huge financial losses. In addition, the rise of AI and automation is pushing many workers out of longtime professions and creating new jobs requiring skills that only a small percentage of the workforce has. To compound the problem, community colleges and other organizations that offer affordable vocational training are struggling to stay afloat. This creates a situation where higher wages are being offered to fill positions, and these costs are then passed on to the consumer.
Supply Chain Problems
Supply chain problems can very quickly raise the prices of everything, as the cost of getting products to the consumer in a globalized market rise. As shipping ports are backed up with product shipments and cargo ships, storage costs skyrocket and delays become more commonplace. As with most costs, these (of course) are passed on to the consumer, who is now seeing higher product prices. Transportations costs also go up, with the truck driving industry seeing a labor shortage as well. Finally, the cost of raw materials and parts goes up.
Tariffs
Since raising tariffs is the new pastime of the U.S. government, nearly every industry is reporting big price hikes, from material producers and extractors to suppliers, and down the line to the retailers we purchase our goods from. The prices right now aren't necessarily reflective of that, yet. Even though some tariffs were applied as early as February, many weren't applied until April or later. A lot of the tariffs aren't even finalized yet, and products take time to arrive on our shelves. Many economists are predicting that things will start to get even more expensive for consumers later this year.
Greed
We are living and shopping in a rich man's market, and the impact of simple greed on our lives and our bank accounts cannot be denied. Many (if not most) corporations that sell us the products we use and food that we eat are raising prices mostly for profit, which is often called "Greedflation".
Of course, corporations are designed to maximize profits. Government regulation is meant to be the brakes: to ensure competition is fair, advertised claims are accurate, and laws are followed. These agencies and regulations are under attack from politicians taking bribes (i.e., corporate lobbying). Americans increasingly adulate wealth and charisma over integrity and hard work. It doesn't matter if a politician lies and cheats as long as he's entertaining and accessible on social media.
If it were not glaringly obvious before, it is increasingly apparent now that the 1% sees the rest of us as mindless sheep, an enormous teat from which to drain every last cent, every workable hour, until we are empty husks, impotent as dying beetles, wriggling on our backs.
"Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul."
—Little Richard
To be continued in the next issue with part 2, "How to Survive in a Rich Man's World"
