The supply chain is persistently clogged. There’s a full-on energy crisis spreading around the world. Prices for everyday goods are rising. And there aren’t enough workers to go around.
The global economy is out of whack and governments aren’t sure what to do. The evidence is in a daily churn of headlines that lend themselves to alarming pronouncements. Prices are rising. Inflation doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. On Wednesday, the government’s Consumer Price Index confirmed what anybody who has been to the grocery store already knew: US prices are up. “Rising prices for food and shelter contributed more than half of this increase, while prices for new cars, household furnishings and car insurance also climbed,” writes CNN’s Anneken Tappe, adding that new car prices had their biggest one-year jump since 1980. The price of gas is up more than 40% in a year. The roughly 70 million US Social Security recipients will get their largest cost of living adjustment since 1982, the government announced Wednesday — a $92 per month boost next year to an estimated average of $1,657 to help cover the rising costs. Not everything is more expensive. Plane tickets have dipped a bit. But everyday costs like rents are rising. Home prices are expected to continue to go up, according to Goldman Sachs. The investment bank projects more and more people will be forced out of the home market by high prices only to be pressured by high rents. RELATED: Social Security recipients get 5.9% increase, but rising prices will offset the boost What’s the fix for high home prices? Perhaps relaxed zoning laws. Goldman Sachs noted that California has abolished single-family zoning in the state, which could add housing units. Read more on housing from CNN’s Anna Bahney. Workers are quitting their jobs A record number of Americans — 4.3 million workers, or nearly 3% of the total workforce — quit their jobs in August. That’s the highest quit rate in the history of the government survey that tracks the data, which has been around since 2000. CNN’s Matt Egan writes that workers want higher pay, better conditions and more flexibility. And companies are so desperate for workers that people aren’t worried about seeing what else is available. This is not the sappy hyperdrama of disillusioned hard workers all giving up and moving away that Ayn Rand wrote about in “Atlas Shrugged.” It’s a problem for companies grappling with a worker shortage. But it’s also a potential “golden age” for American workers, writes Egan. He talked to Joe Brusuelas, the chief economist at the consulting firm RSM, who said we’re in the midst of a pivotal moment as the US and the rest of the world overcome Covid-19. “This is what happens after great wars or depressions,” Brusuelas said. “It’s hard to spot while you’re in it, but we’ve gone through a shock that has elicited an unexpected change upon the population.
