To me this makes...sense. A general doesn't meet each individual field soldier, it's not feasible and doesn't scale.

Not sure what kind of firms people on here work for, but most of my managers all the way up have 0 life at all. They're constantly working dealing with millions of little details where they have to make an instant decision. It honestly looks like hell.

We just saw it - a year ago - and it coincided with the worst inflation in decades. Look at the 80s - same thing - high inflation and high wages go hand in hand. They're not to blame, per se, they're just a clear indicator of inflationary periods of time.

Of course it is nonsense to solely blame pandemic relief (vs years of cheap cash and PPP loans) for inflation. I don't think you give the American people enough credit. They're not stupid drones going around. They want to buy things, and they didn't care that it cost more. Companies caught on quickly (like anyone else would.) Compound that with the fact that most conveniences are staffed by wage slave jobs that most americans would turn their noses up at, then you have rich people waiting in long lines at McDonald's as opposed to cheaper options.

> The source of the problem isn't wages, it's greed and until the source of the problem is addressed and dealt with every consumer, rich or poor, is going to suffer for it one way or another.

No one is saying that wages are the source of the problem. They may contribute a small piece. In any case, railing against "greed" borders on the mythical. Why is the voracious apetite of many american consumers not considered greed, as well? Moral crusades have no place here, in my humble opinion.

> Every consumer has some idea of what things are worth and if a company tries to jack prices up for no reason consumers feel cheated and stop paying.

The recent inflation proves otherwise. Many costs have remained sticky for no added benefit. If this was true then we would never have inflation - because the inflation the last 2 years has been so extreme that your belief should have come to pass without any help and much earlier when the supply shocks subsided.

> Then as the supply of goods came back they started using the inflation narrative (complete with "printed money" excuse) to justify further increasing prices,

This just proves the point further - consumers continued spending despite the rising costs. But now you'll say they're only now started to feel ripped off? Seems awfully convenient for your argument, but isn't consistent. What is consistent is that raising interest rates have helped somewhat.

The fed is doing the right thing and yes it impacts wages as it impacts other asset classes. Again, if your eggs cost 300% more but your wages increased, it doesn't matter, in the end you're still likely losing.

This is so basic but so many people miss it. I have continually explained this to my parents. It doesn't matter how good your 401k is doing if it leads to eggs being $12 a dozen in your retirement.

Sure, why couldn't it be? Maybe it has severe, painful side effects. There's a reason many people with stage 4 cancer and low chance of survival decide not to go back on chemo. Maybe it kills them earlier than expected. Then what?

It's no surprise many people just...gave up. There's nothing to latch onto or own - everything is blocked by someone who already got theirs.

The key is workflows, like how buildings used to be built. You just keep working on it - no stupid schedule that fails immediately once one little detail to follow goes wrong. Building accurate plans never works and it takes ridiculous amounts of time.

> Also, I don't think the market for this stuff is ever truly saturated: every day, plenty of people get their first apartment and need to buy appliances. Instant Pot seems similar to other things like microwaves and toasters, which we don't think of as a dead end due to market saturation.

The market for microwaves isn't, because people use them. Outside of that craze, I don't know of anyone who uses their instant pot anymore. It was a fad, PE came in and gutted it. but the fact is, it probably wasn't going to be this huge performer either way.