Death of the Middle Class
The middle class is obviously being priced out of existence. The new elite is the old upper middle class. This is essentially a no brainer, anyone who has tried to go to a restaurant in the past year or so knows this. Anyone who has bought groceries or gas for their car knows this. We all have been hit by it, but few of us know the truth regarding “why.” Well, even that is obvious, but few people (sheep) want to admit it because it would make us (shrews) right, and them (sheep) wrong. And we can’t have that, can we?
Most conventional mainstream sources blame the supply chain disruption (thus higher prices) on global tensions, climate change, and of course, the pandemic (but for the wrong reasons). Although it is rather clear that all of the shutdowns would mess up the free flow of supplies and services, the mainstream wisdom says all of this is just the price we have to pay to stay “safe, alive and happy.” The fact is, none of it was necessary, and the world basically shot off its foot—intentionally.
The scamdemic caused widespread lockdowns, labor shortages, and transportation delays, significantly disrupting global supply chains. Factory shutdowns and reduced workforce availability led to production bottlenecks and inventory shortages. All for naught, of course. Well, not really, they succeeded in their intentions, the world is collapsing. The middle class is all but dead already, the lower class has been dead all along. Useless eaters.
Trade wars, tariffs, and sanctions, especially between major economies like the United States and China, have strained supply lines. Political instability in regions such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe has further exacerbated supply chain issues. Duh. Who would have thunk it? The wars in particular have been useful on a variety of fronts, not the least of them being: driving up inflation, supply line disruptions, as well as essentially destroying the infrastructure, at least in the US, Europe, and Canada. Billions are spent on the conflict in Ukraine, deflecting desperately needed funds to take care of our own in our own countries (the USA, Europe, and Canada). All part of the plan, of course.
Needless to say, all of the environmental regulations, labor laws, and land use policies have imposed additional costs and operational challenges for farmers, affecting agricultural productivity and supply. To put it mildly. Now billions of chickens and cows are stepping up to the chopping block to be destroyed due to the next public health charade—Bird Flu. Make way for ze bugz, everyone.
Speaking of bugz, there are already many bug-breeding facilities popping up around the world. Insect farming is the next big industry, already making huge headway. The leaders in this fledgling business endeavour are France, the Netherlands, UK, Belgium and Denmark. Ynsect, the largest bug producer in the world (France) has invested 100’s of millions in the production of edible creepy crawlies—coming to a grocery store, and restaurant, near you.
As far as “normal” food products are concerned, increased cost of raw materials and transportation has translated into higher grocery prices. In some regions, staple foods like grains, dairy, and meat have seen price hikes ranging from 10% to 30%. This of course is reflected in the cost of dining out as well.
Geopolitical tensions and production cuts by major oil producers have driven up fuel prices. For instance, gasoline prices in the United States increased by approximately 50% from 2020 to 2022. Nice, eh? And of course, the ol’ EV is not necessarily the solution, although we are led to believe it is (just as we are with wind power and solar power.) As we all pile into the life raft the agenda has thrown out to us, we discover the massive hole in the hull and down we go.
Energy shortages and rising fuel costs have led to higher electricity prices. In Europe, electricity prices surged by over 200% (yahoo!) in some countries during the energy crisis of 2021-2022. Again, to repeat my favorite word in this article, “duh.” So, what else is new?
Oh yes, let’s blame the “pandemic” for increased demand for medical supplies and disruptions in pharmaceutical supply chains, oh my, oh my! Causing prices to spike. In the United States, the cost of prescription drugs rose by an average of 2.5% annually from 2019 to 2022, while hospital services saw price increases of around 3% per year. That doesn’t seem so bad, does it? Well, they don’t want to price themselves out of existence, although that is very likely where it is headed (they will survive, of course, it is the consumer that will be priced out of existence). Once most people (sheep) are dependent on drugs to stay “safe and healthy” the prices will continue to go up.
So, what is the reason behind this madness? Ultimately the agenda aims to squeeze the useless eaters (us) into a deeper compliance. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Make it more and more difficult to live. Forcing us to consume the things that the agenda is setting up to be essentials (like bugs replacing real meat—soon to be cheap and available) as well as forcing everyone else into a pricing tier that no one will be able to afford—thus making it easier to force us to rent everything we need rather than to buy it. Remember that? “In the future, you will own nothing, and be happy.”
Yahoo. I’m already happy just thinking about it.
And, as usual, we are all just casually, and nonchalantly, walking to the gas chamber. With not a care in the world. High prices? $200 for dinner for two at a middle-of-the-road steakhouse? Over $60 to fill an average car with gas (in California, in Canada almost $100)? Nearly every little thing you buy costs nearly double what it cost a few years ago. Really? Sure, we can swing it. We need all of that stuff; we certainly can make room for it financially.
This must be the case as I went out to dinner with friends the other night and the place was totally packed (The Keg, a popular Ontario steakhouse)—packed mostly with young people (probably under 30 year old kids still living with their parents, who are staying at home roasting up some crickets for dinner as their freeloader kids live it up on the town).
Will people eventually break down? Will the middle class eventually disappear and join their lower-class comrades in the fields as goat herders and ditch diggers? Yes, of course they will. They already are. And those rental items become more and more attractive. So do the bugs.
Thanks, Todd, for this excellent article so well-titled. I've been harping on about this topic for a few years now to whoever will listen, and I'm going to include an e-mail (personal) to the editor of our town newspaper where he was complaining about the price-increase (of all things!!) of his beloved Coke-Zero.
Here it is:
Thank you for bringing a morning smile to my face upon reading your recent editorial on grocery prices, and particularly your ‘Coke Zero’ reference. I often enjoy your writing and style, even though it’s a bit too ‘a la gauche’ for me nowadays. (But don’t worry, I too was left-leaning for most of my life until the advent of the Covid-Era circa March 2020.)
You see, sir, someone was going to have to ‘pay for it all’, and that most certainly includes you and your favourite beverage.
The advent of the Covid-Era— and our PM’s “Great Reset” he told us about from his ‘cottage bunker’ back in 2020— required much to be paid for including:
all that PPE purchased for not just ourselves, but for China
all that ‘infrastructure’ built or contracted to deal with the ‘virus’, whether it be mobile hospitals, special Covid units, or plexiglass panels everywhere
all the dollars sent out to many (and some unworthy) to deal with layoffs/job loss or ‘whatever it seemed’ due to lockdowns
all those ‘vaccines’ specially refrigerated (huh?), distributed, dispersed, and injected(multiple times) into tens of millions in our country alone ( I betcha thought those were ‘free’?)
all the monies spent and allocated to industry, banks, bureaucrats, academia, unions, and telecom/media to help us all survive the “viral threat” around us
millions of dollars allocated to establish Canadian ‘vaccine plants’ to have us ‘ready’ for “The Next One”
millions spent on apps and super-surveillance to keep us all ‘safe’ (remember ArriveCan?)
and so much more that I can’t bore you with anymore—- but will cost us and our children for years
If all this was not enough, as it was becoming ‘safe’ to perhaps pop your head up in the summer of 2022, we were being told by the illustrious Deputy PM that ‘climate change’ was to be our next battle to be fought and won. And, so, more money will be siphoned off by dubious ‘green’ companies/contractors. So, pay your carbon tax to save us all, okay!! (By the way, have you got used to 33% higher fuel, utility, insurance, grocery, vehicle, and all service costs over the past few years??)
And you’d better buy your electric car soon, or else!—- (Oh, and also, you know we are funding/building all kinds of battery plants to power those same EVs that millions of Canadians will not be able to afford——-but, alas, perhaps, that’s the plan anyway?)
And to top it all off: “The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!” is becoming
in-vogue again. ( Oh, how I loved the ’72 Summit Series from my perspective in fourth grade! ) The Russians are now the bad guys again. We need that, you see, to keep our economy strong. So, let’s send billions of dollars to Mr. Z— the former comedian turned leader of the Ukraine —because we all know how well the never-ending wars of Iraq/Afghanistan turned out for the citizens of all nations there.
Keep up the good work—- and sorry for the acerbic tone to my letter, but becoming slowly and surely poorer has that effect on seniors like myself. And I don’t even drink Coke Zero!
What was his reply to my e-mail? This: “Yes, life is definitely costlier these days.”
But I personally will not give up. We can't. Even one person thinking twice about what's happening after sending a note is worth all those keyboard taps to whatever level of government or corporate power that we address.
And dont forget our oh-so-canny PM'S refusal to supply Europe with LNG. They come begging, he sends them packing muttering inanities about lousy Business plans. Yeah, it would have brought money, jobs, to thousands of (actual) Canadians lifting the burdens of poverty and even, God forbid! lower gas prices. Or his insistence on capping oil industry production/profits when every baby economist know that the BEST way to ensure scarcity is to cap pricing and production (See Rand Paul's elegant explanation in "The Case against Socialism" and everything Milton Friedman has ever said.)
Just face it folks. In the academic tradition of positing a theory that accounts for ALL observed and extrapolable data, per constructive empiricism (Monton, 2008 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, citing Bas van Fraassen's work, where he says, "there is no... warrant for going beyond our evidence" if science is to explain truth derived from what has been observed) the only explanation that thoroughly addresses all the current insanity is that they are trying to kill us all.
Sadly, this is a conclusion that I reached in Dec. 2020. I reached out to an outspoken physician at the time to validate what the actual pandemic data was speaking to me, because I couldn't bring myself to believe what I was seeing. And he named it, "They are trying to kill us all."