\n\n“The actual problem here is prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\u2019re not going up nearly as much as they were in, say, the middle of last year, but they\u2019re by and large not declining en masse, either. And in most cases, they won\u2019t get back<\/a> to where they were in the Before Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cInflation in the US is falling relatively quickly compared to all of our other peer countries, and we have the strongest growth out of the recession,\u201d said Felicia Wong<\/a>, president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank. \u201cBut people don\u2019t just want falling inflation numbers, they actually want deflation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deflation probably isn\u2019t in the cards (and the rub is we don\u2019t want it to be). Higher prices might just be the sort of thing we\u2019ve all got to get used to. The truth is we\u2019re never going back to how things were in 2019 \u2014 we won\u2019t be returning to the office at the same levels<\/a>, we\u2019ll never hear \u201ccorona\u201d and only think of beer, and that night on the town is going to cost us more than it did before.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Basically, if I get a raise at work, I think it\u2019s because I\u2019m awesome. That may be partly true, but that\u2019s not all that\u2019s going on \u2014 it\u2019s also that the labor market is tight and wages broadly are going up. My current employer doesn\u2019t want to lose me, and my future employer would have to pay me a little more to lure me away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While many people see their employment situations (good or bad) as something they\u2019ve earned, they see inflation as something that\u2019s happening to <\/em>them and that it\u2019s the government\u2019s fault. \u201cThe reality is inflation takes away and it gives back. It takes away, prices go up, and it gives back, wages catch up,\u201d said Justin Wolfers<\/a>, an economist at the University of Michigan. \u201cBut you code what it takes away as inflation\u2019s fault but what it gives back as your own genius.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The rate of inflation really is slowing (and, if all goes well, will continue to do so), and the disorienting nature of what\u2019s happened in the economy over the past few years will likely fade. Post-pandemic prices will eventually feel normal, and post-pandemic wages should make those prices more feasible \u2014 or at least not significantly less feasible than they were before. Sooner or later, sticker shock will feel a little less shocking.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n