WEBVTT - What is the Middle Class? 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.600 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WIKA F Daily with 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:19.560 Meet Your Girl Danielle Moody recording Not So Live from 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.159 San Francisco, folks. Um. I want to open up the 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:27.240 show with apologizing that there will not be video for 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:30.880 the last two shows of this week because I am 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:35.880 traveling for work in a different orientation and so we'll 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.000 not have access to that. But we'll go back old 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.559 school for that short little bit and we will just 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:46.360 do audio for the next two days, which will be easier. 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.480 I want to start off today as well. I haven't 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:54.600 been in San Francisco since before the pandemic. I come here. 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.440 I've been coming to San Francisco to the Castro District, 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:04.360 which is largely LGBTQ plus area, as an advisor with 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:09.880 the Lesbians Who Tech and Allies organization. For the last 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:14.200 several years put on two summits a year where we 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:19.880 have incredible speakers. We've had Hillary Clinton, Stacy Abrams, you know, 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:22.960 among other big names that have come to talk on 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:27.760 a variety of issues raging from social justice to tech 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:33.720 to everything in between. And since the pandemic, obviously we 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:38.679 have had to move into doing virtual events and so 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.640 this is my first time here, and what is striking 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:48.760 is one if you haven't traveled as much or at 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:53.560 all since since twenty nineteen, it's startling to roll up 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:57.560 into places that you have very fond memories of or 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.040 very distinct, I should say, memories of how they were 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.560 and the cash stro to me in San Francisco has 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:09.359 always been super bustling, with lots of you know, queer 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:14.040 folks and artists and musicians and restaurant tours and just 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:18.240 had a different energy and vibe about it. And you know, 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:23.920 my friends and I are here and walking around and 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:28.280 there's an eerieness that is in the air. It's it's 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.520 a quarter of the people, first of all, are walking 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.960 around on the streets. Majority of everyone is masked, even 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.560 if they're walking outside. But there is an eeriness. There's 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.640 a sadness that is kind of that is lingering, that 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.000 is noticeable. And it's very different than New York. And 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.360 I don't know if that is because I live in 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.880 New York, you know, day and day out, and so there, 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:56.880 while there has been significant changes, the vibration of the 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:02.160 city has come back to life. Whereas here and even 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:07.480 when I went to La recently, there is just like again, 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:13.960 a sadness, a just a lingering sense that something is 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:18.720 off an off kilter. And I say that because it 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:23.280 is present, you know, in so many different ways, whether 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:27.440 you're still working from home, or have slowly started to 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:29.760 go back into an office, or have been told that 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.280 you're never going back into an office, or your plans 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:37.240 were altered because of omicron, or you know what have you. 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:43.800 But I can't help but wonder how long. And I 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:47.840 don't even just mean like the economic effects, but I 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:54.880 wonder if we have changed just our emotional well being, 0:03:54.880 --> 0:04:00.240 our structure of society for the long haul, you know, 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:04.320 at the beginning of the pandemic, right which folks, I 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:08.440 cannot believe that the calendar year is going to be changing, 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.280 you know, but in a couple of weeks will be 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.520 in twenty twenty two, which is mind blowing to me 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.880 and I'm certain to many of you as well, But 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:24.160 we will be two years. The first reported death of 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:28.960 COVID came in February of twenty twenty. There's a first 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:38.599 reported death. Since then, America has surpassed, from what I 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:46.360 said yesterday, eight hundred thousand deaths, which is significantly more 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:52.719 than any other country. Like, let that sink in for 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:54.920 a moment. Now, you know, we could say, we could 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:58.640 say a lot of different things right about that reality. 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:03.279 We could say that, you know, it is we do 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:07.320 the most reporting right and that we have been transparent 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:11.839 about our reporting, whereas other countries may not have been 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.960 right or may not have had the capability to have 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.800 reported the amount of deaths. But I think that it 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:23.560 says something right. It says something really striking and really 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:29.800 upsetting that America has surpassed every other nation in the 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:34.359 number of deaths. And what is really frightening is that 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:38.240 a quarter of those deaths have happened since we've had 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:43.560 the vaccine. Right, So just think about this for a moment, 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:49.000 that even though we have a life saving vaccine, even 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:55.560 though we now have mutated two major times since the 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.960 alpha variant of twenty twenty, we've had delta and now omicrons, 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:08.920 that we have vaccines, we have booster shots, because of scientists, 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:15.279 because of doctors, nurses, healthcare practitioners, that we have a 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:21.520 pathway out, and yet a quarter of those over eight 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:26.920 hundred thousand deaths have come after the fact. We are still, 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:33.720 according to The New York Times, experiencing twelve hundred deaths 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:41.359 a day. It makes absolutely no sense. You know, I 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:45.640 almost want to go back to the history and the 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:52.400 record books of other plagues and flues and pandemics that 0:06:52.480 --> 0:07:00.000 have wiped across the planet and see what the political 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.280 climate was like. You know, where people in the midst 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.679 of the Spanish flu is, tens of thousands of people 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.760 were dying so rapidly, where their protests in the streets, 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:17.680 right when polio was ravaging many nations before there was 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:19.760 a vaccine, where there are people in the streets that 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:23.280 said no, it's God's will and everyone should get polio. 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:31.280 I just find it's so absolutely bizarre and sickening that 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:36.320 we are still at a place where we're hearing stories 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:42.800 about people now on their deathbeds saying give me the vaccine. Well, 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:48.040 now it's too late, right, and now the vaccine doesn't matter, 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.000 won't work because your body has been ravaged by COVID. 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:55.960 And I keep thinking as well, you know, because of 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.640 hippo laws, right, because of the laws that we have 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.880 that allow people able to have privacy right around their 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:08.360 medical treatment and their medical care, that that has prevented 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:13.760 us from actually being able to see exactly what happens 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:20.520 to the body when COVID hits, exactly what the nurses 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:25.760 and doctors right and healthcare workers are experiencing day in 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:32.480 and day out trying to save lives. Right knowing that 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:36.480 we have a vaccine, it was different in twenty twenty. 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.560 We didn't know what the fuck we were dealing with, 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:43.360 But now we do. We have a better understanding. We 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:48.680 are seeing how and why it's mutating. We're not able 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:56.280 to stop it because, frankly, human nature, humans led by 0:08:56.480 --> 0:09:01.120 Right the likes of Fox News and other bull shit politicians, 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:06.760 have made it so this is endemic. It's never going anywhere. 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:12.319 Right now, we're hanging on to the hope that omicron 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:17.120 is not as lethal as delta or the alpha was, 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.160 and that if you were vaccinated and boosted that it 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:27.040 is unlikely that you will end up in hospital. But 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:32.120 how long will it take for omicron, which is more 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:37.360 transmissible than the delta variant, to take shape. And then 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.679 once that takes shape, and we still have twenty five 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:45.800 of our population that refuses to get vaccinated, how long 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.920 before we have a mutation on top of that mutation? 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:54.439 And maybe we're not so lucky that the vaccines along 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:59.760 with the boosters actually work, you see right now. They 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:06.160 were announcements that came out earlier in the week that 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:13.920 Alvin Elli, the famed African American dance company, was halting 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:17.920 two of their shows because people within the company. I 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:22.520 don't know if it's dancers, assistance, teachers, what have you, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.880 but people within the company have contracted COVID, So they've 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:30.760 canceled two shows. New York University n YU has canceled 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:37.400 their events because of COVID. Broadway is worried, the Opera 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:42.280 is concerned, right because as we get into the colder months, 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:46.880 particularly on the East coast right and in the North 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:50.240 Pacific Northwest, in all of these places that people are 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.920 going to go back indoors, and we still have a 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:58.400 couple of holiday humps to get over before we reach 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:02.920 the new year. And what we know about COVID and 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:09.320 the holidays and cold weather is that it is exacerbated, right, 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:15.679 that the numbers spike and if we have people who 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.359 aren't boosted, right, because what we are learning about amicron 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:24.040 is that even if you are double vaccinated, that depending 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:29.800 on how far you are from your last shot, that 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:34.280 if you are not boosted, you can get sick, and 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:39.040 I don't you know. Before I was just like, I 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:40.920 just want to be able to go to the grocery store, 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:44.520 not wash my cardboard boxes, and not feel like I'm 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.360 going to die every time I leave my house. And 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:48.840 if I can get back to that place, that will 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:52.440 be good. We got back to that place, but now 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:58.600 we're at a space where the lingering effects of long 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:05.560 COVID we're still discovering. There are some people that contracted 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.000 COVID and you know, they had a mild flu or 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:13.439 they were asymptomatic. There are other people that have contracted 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:19.360 COVID and they are now able to get disability because 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:24.880 they're no longer able to work, they have crushing migraines, breathlessness, 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:29.120 right not able to climb a flight of stairs right 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.160 walk from their bedroom to their kitchens without feeling completely 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.720 and totally out of breath. That there is this lingering 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.640 brain fog. We don't know what that actually is, but 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.720 that's what it's referred to, where you can't really remember 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.160 things and things are kind of out of place in 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:51.000 your mind. So as time goes on, people that have 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:57.480 been affected by COVID, which are tens of millions of people, right, 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:03.040 what will work look like? What will our lives look like? 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:07.400 What will long term care look like? We're still only 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:13.080 dealing with the immediacy of now, right, but we're there 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:18.079 are people who are thinking about will shit, what does 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.120 this look like down the road? If all of these 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:27.559 people now can have preexisting conditions because of their exposure 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:31.120 to COVID, right, what does that mean for healthcare costs? 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.040 What is that you know? So there are all of 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:40.480 these unknowns, and so if the one thing that we 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:46.480 do know for sure right now is that vaccines keep 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:52.120 us from dying, they keep us from severe illness, and 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:56.560 that we are fortunate enough as of right now that 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:00.440 in the United States you're able to get these shots 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:06.160 in arms and boosted for free. That is not the 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:11.320 case around the globe. That is not the case in 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:17.600 so many places. And once again, it is capitalism that 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:23.960 is stopping people from being able to stay well. Right. 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:29.160 This was the conversation that we were having a couple 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:33.400 of weeks ago when I first learned about how disgusting 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:41.040 the higher income countries were in not passing the trips 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:45.600 waiver so that India and South Africa and other lower 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:49.800 income nations could be able to develop their own vaccines 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.120 and not have to rely on the benevolence of the 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.400 modernas and the fisers and those nation states where they're 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:02.240 headquartered in doing the quote U quote right thing. The 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:07.080 right thing would have been to lift the intellectual property 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:11.480 rights from the vaccine that has ravaged the fucking globe 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.040 and to ensure that we wipe out COVID and that 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:21.560 be our first priority. Fuck your billions of dollars right 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:25.080 that you want to fill your coffers with and give 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:29.440 your CEOs these major bonuses, and your shareholders and oh, 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.920 the members of Congress, particularly the Republicans that saw this 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:36.960 coming so that they could you buy up stocks. Right. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:48.560 I continue to say and believe that white supremacy coupled 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:53.880 with capitalistic greed is going to be the death of us. 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.120 And when I say the death of us, I mean 0:15:56.160 --> 0:16:00.960 the entirety of the planet. Right. Why we fight climate 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:08.720 change with the urgency and the rigor that it requires, Oh, 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.400 because we don't want to upset car manufacturers. We don't 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:17.720 want to upset industry. Because the excuse time and time again, 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.480 and this is by both Democrats and Republicans, Because I 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.760 can't even say, oh, it's just Republicans. No, it's by 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:31.240 both Democrats and Republicans that they feed into the needs 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:36.080 of the one percent and screw the ninety nine. So 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:41.120 we can't make the major changes that we need because, 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:43.920 oh my god, industry will tumble. Well, that was the 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.880 same ship that they told us during the housing crisis 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:48.960 in the beginning of the early auts. Oh, we have 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.200 to bail the banks out. Oh, we have to bail 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.000 out the car industry. Oh, we have to bail out 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:59.440 the airlines. But whenever we're looking for our quote unquote 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:03.080 build back better, right, whenever we're looking for our own 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:08.600 tax dollars to bail out the American people to support 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:12.840 the American people to be reinvested into us and into community, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.640 which is supposedly what the Build Back Better Biden agenda 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:20.600 is supposed to do. Oh well, now, by the way, 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:25.199 that's being kicked down until you know, we're kicking that 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:31.800 can down the road until probably spring. Meanwhile, Democrats had 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:36.680 set a self imposed deadline of Christmas to get it done, 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:42.200 only to once again look like fucking failures that they 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.600 don't know what to do with the power that the 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:51.520 people have given them. So I look at where we are, 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.080 and I want to get into the conversation around inflation 0:17:55.920 --> 0:18:00.760 right now. And you know the fact that if you're 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.119 going into stores, if you are filling your car up 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:08.040 with gas, if you are trying to buy holiday gifts 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.119 and the like, you are recognizing that your dollar is 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:13.560 not going as far as it used to on top 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.920 of everything else. And then they want to tell us 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.520 the lie, Well, it's because nobody wants to work. So 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.639 we had to end right all of the economic relief 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:27.119 that we were providing people once again with their own 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:32.760 tax dollars back right whatever people whatever. Republicans want to 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:36.119 turn around and say, oh, well, people don't want to 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.399 work because the government is. They're just suckling off the 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:42.639 tit of government. Well, actually, actually it's the other way around, 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:49.520 because without our consistent payment of taxes, government wouldn't fucking function. 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.400 And what we are looking for government to do with 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:58.000 our tax dollars is to strengthen our social safety nets. 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:02.320 Is to ensure that nobody goes hungry, that roads are paved, 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:10.080 that airports are maintained, that railroads are innovated upon, that 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:14.199 we're able to build infrastructure that can fight against our 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:20.200 rapidly changing climate. But anytime that you talk about providing 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:22.960 relief to the American people, you ever listen to how 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:31.080 politicians talk about us, Oh, they're lazy, right now, buildback 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.680 Better is dead in the water. They're going to tell 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.000 you that, oh, it'll get done, It'll get done. I 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:38.520 don't think that it will. And I think that that 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:42.320 was the major mistake of breaking up Buildback Better from 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:51.520 the larger Infrastructure, the larger building infrastructure part of Biden's agenda, 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.920 because unless you were going to pass those things together, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.199 you were going to give the mansions of the world 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:01.600 the ability to go through with their fine tooth comb 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:09.359 and take out all of the things that people actually need, like, oh, 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:13.639 we're the only industrialized fucking nation that doesn't have parental leave, 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:19.960 paid parental leave. You want to know why people are 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:24.879 leaving the workforce? Oh, maybe because they don't make a 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:30.240 living wage. They've decided that they're not anymore going to 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:34.040 just work to exist, that there must be something better 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:39.000 out there for them. But we're looking at a major 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:43.119 problem right now with inflation, and they're talking about the 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:47.600 supply chain issues, which we saw right with the ships 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:51.320 out in sea with nobody to unload them. Nobody to 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:55.280 unpack them. We're hearing things like this is the highest 0:20:55.359 --> 0:21:01.800 level of inflation since nineteen eighty two. Right. But one 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:05.160 of the things that I found disturbing, and I want 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:11.800 to run it by all of you, is this in 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:17.840 an article that I was reading. You know, I feel 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:24.640 that it is important to recognize that our news is 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:29.080 skewed through the eyes and the lens and the perspective 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:35.560 of the rich. Right. And so they tell us that 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.160 there is a job shortage, and I tell you there 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.200 isn't a job shortage. There's a shortage of good jobs. 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:44.520 And what do I mean by good jobs? I mean 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:49.159 jobs that you can work, where you have health benefits, 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:52.880 where you have a four one K, where you are 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:58.200 able to provide for your basic necessities as well as 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:02.840 save and or invest. Right, there is a lack of 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:06.960 those jobs. But what CEOs wants you to believe, and 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:09.320 what our government wants you to believe, is that people 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:12.600 are lazy. Americans are lazy. So at once they want 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.359 to tell us that you're hard working. But on the 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:19.040 other hand, they're like, oh, but we're gonna end that 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:24.880 student loan debt relief program that we promised you. Oh, 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:27.480 We're not going to give you any more stimulus checks 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:32.080 because in this article in the New York Times written 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:36.520 by Jianna Smialik, inflation has arrived. Here's what you need 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:43.240 to know, and here's what she writes. Inflation is a 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:46.560 loss of purchase in power over time. It means your 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:49.840 dollar will not go as far tomorrow as it did today. 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:53.360 Inflation is typically expressed as the annual change in prices 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:56.919 for a basket of goods and services. In the United States, 0:22:56.920 --> 0:23:02.000 there are two main inflation gauges. Consumer Price Index or CPI, 0:23:02.160 --> 0:23:05.640 measures the cost of things urban consumers buy out of pocket. 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:12.080 The other, personal Consumption Expenditures Index or PC is released 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:15.720 or is released at more of a lag, and measures 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:19.600 things people consume, including things that they don't pay for directly, 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:26.119 notably healthcare, insurance, government benefits, the government covers right, and 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:34.399 your jobs cover some. What causes inflation? This is what 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:40.879 I found interesting. This is what she writes. In the 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:43.320 short term, high inflation can be the result of a 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:46.600 hot economy, one in which people have a lot of 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:50.119 surplus cash or are accessing a lot of credit and 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:53.080 want to spend. Now, let me pause right there for 0:23:53.119 --> 0:23:57.200 a second. Does anything about this current economy feel hot 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.719 to you? Does it feel like people are just you know, 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:05.679 out there just making it rain at every store that 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:10.720 they walk into, that there is such an increased demand 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:14.800 for things that prices have to be raised in order 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:21.760 to meet that demand. No, it's not. And while you 0:24:21.800 --> 0:24:23.840 can look at the jobs numbers, and I always want 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:26.720 to know, like who is measuring this and how and 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:28.879 where and what jobs are we talking about and what 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:33.119 kind of quality jobs are we adding back in? But 0:24:33.240 --> 0:24:36.640 let me not, you know, let me ask too many 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:42.080 questions for disappointment, just a rain down. But the reality 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:46.480 here is that that's not what's causing this inflation. But 0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:50.159 here's what she goes on to, right, But inflation can 0:24:50.640 --> 0:24:54.600 and often does rise and fall based on developments that 0:24:54.720 --> 0:24:59.080 have little to do with economic conditions. Limited oil production 0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:03.560 can make gas expensive. Supply chain problems can keep goods 0:25:03.680 --> 0:25:08.920 in short supply, pushing up prices. The inflationary burst America 0:25:09.000 --> 0:25:12.320 has experienced this year has been driven partly by the 0:25:12.359 --> 0:25:15.720 quirks and partly by demand. And by quirks, she's referring 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:22.359 to the coronavirus. The coronavirus clog shipping routes helping to 0:25:22.400 --> 0:25:25.520 limit the supply of cars and couches and pushing prices 0:25:25.640 --> 0:25:29.160 higher airfares and rates for hotel rooms, which if you're 0:25:29.160 --> 0:25:32.120 trying to travel this holiday season, you realize that those 0:25:32.200 --> 0:25:35.679 deals are fucking long gone, that the long lines are 0:25:35.720 --> 0:25:38.960 back at TSA, and that the prices that the airlines 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:42.520 are charging are through the fucking roof, as are hotel prices. 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:50.080 But also, she says, the case also the case that 0:25:50.160 --> 0:25:54.560 consumers who collectively built up big savings. This is what 0:25:54.680 --> 0:25:58.280 she writes. And when I tell you that I've read 0:25:58.320 --> 0:26:00.800 this article multiple times and talk to a couple of 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:03.880 different people about it, because by the end of it, 0:26:03.920 --> 0:26:07.119 I was irate, and you will understand why in a moment. 0:26:09.200 --> 0:26:12.920 But it is also the case that consumers who collectively 0:26:13.000 --> 0:26:16.840 built up big savings thanks to months in lockdown and 0:26:16.920 --> 0:26:21.800 repeated government stimulus checks, are spending robustly, and their demand 0:26:21.920 --> 0:26:25.560 is driving part of inflation. They are continuing to buy 0:26:25.800 --> 0:26:29.879 even as costs for exercise equipment or outdoor furniture rise, 0:26:30.359 --> 0:26:33.800 and they are shouldering increases in rent and home prices. 0:26:34.320 --> 0:26:39.359 The infatiguable shopping is helping to keep price increases brisk. 0:26:40.000 --> 0:26:45.119 First of all, I think that this is absolutely false. 0:26:46.720 --> 0:26:50.920 One the stimulus checks, if you were able to get 0:26:51.000 --> 0:26:55.680 one because you made a certain amount of money, right, 0:26:57.119 --> 0:27:05.480 amount to two roughly twenty four hundred dollars right for 0:27:05.640 --> 0:27:12.600 those two big checks, big checks. I will tell you 0:27:12.760 --> 0:27:18.760 that in New York, for instance, the average rent right 0:27:19.480 --> 0:27:23.159 is roughly depending on what part of New York you 0:27:23.200 --> 0:27:24.960 are in. If you're in New York City, I'm going 0:27:25.000 --> 0:27:28.640 to say that the average rent is probably somewhere between 0:27:29.119 --> 0:27:33.520 you know, fifteen to twenty five hundred dollars, right, depending 0:27:33.520 --> 0:27:35.320 on what you're looking for. If it's a one bedroom 0:27:35.640 --> 0:27:38.640 versus studio, you know, if it has a walk up 0:27:38.720 --> 0:27:44.840 versus elevators. But the average mortgage and rent in this 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:48.760 country well exceeds twelve hundred dollars a month unless you 0:27:48.760 --> 0:27:53.080 are literally living in the middle of nowhere, right. There 0:27:53.119 --> 0:27:55.959 are very few places where you can roll up nowadays, 0:27:56.600 --> 0:28:00.760 right and pay five six hundred dollars a month and 0:28:00.800 --> 0:28:06.399 rent or in a mortgage. So this quote unquote big 0:28:06.520 --> 0:28:11.240 surplus right is a false flag if I've ever seen one, 0:28:12.320 --> 0:28:17.119 because what it is making seem is that people have 0:28:17.240 --> 0:28:21.360 just been laying around suckling off of the Tit of government. 0:28:22.000 --> 0:28:24.840 They have all this excess cash that they're sitting on 0:28:25.119 --> 0:28:28.840 and now they're just buying up peloton bikes right an 0:28:28.920 --> 0:28:33.399 outdoor furniture like it's nobody's business. The reality is so 0:28:34.000 --> 0:28:39.160 far from that narrative that is being pushed out, just 0:28:39.240 --> 0:28:42.080 in the same way that the narrative is being pushed 0:28:42.080 --> 0:28:46.280 out that there are so many jobs, but nobody wants 0:28:46.320 --> 0:28:50.200 to work and that's all because of the stimulus checks. Right. 0:28:54.720 --> 0:29:02.600 She goes on to say this, but you know, it's like, 0:29:03.200 --> 0:29:07.720 here's the thing. Is inflation bad? And she says, well, 0:29:08.000 --> 0:29:15.080 for some people, inflation isn't good, right, And she starts 0:29:15.080 --> 0:29:20.040 out by saying that inflation isn't good for those that 0:29:20.080 --> 0:29:25.040 are on fixed incomes, like students and the elderly. And 0:29:25.120 --> 0:29:28.880 in my mind, I'm thinking, who isn't on a fixed income? 0:29:29.480 --> 0:29:32.880 Because if you have been paying attention for the last 0:29:32.920 --> 0:29:36.720 two years that we've been living in COVID, you understand 0:29:37.000 --> 0:29:41.040 now at this point in time that anything is possible, right, 0:29:41.360 --> 0:29:44.040 That you could lose your job, that there could be 0:29:44.080 --> 0:29:47.760 a next wave that the vaccines don't work against, that 0:29:47.840 --> 0:29:50.520 if you are changing jobs, you better do something that 0:29:50.600 --> 0:29:53.040 doesn't require you to leave your fucking home in the 0:29:53.120 --> 0:29:56.719 event there is a next major fourth or fifth or 0:29:56.720 --> 0:30:01.280 sixth wave, right that who can stay at home and 0:30:01.320 --> 0:30:05.320 still be able to provide for your family. That this 0:30:05.440 --> 0:30:09.240 surplus of money that you're talking about actually doesn't exist 0:30:09.320 --> 0:30:13.800 because millions of people had lost their jobs and needed 0:30:13.800 --> 0:30:16.320 those stimulus checks just to be able to put food 0:30:16.360 --> 0:30:20.000 on the table, or put medicine in their medicine cabinets, right, 0:30:20.160 --> 0:30:22.440 or fill up gas so that they can go around 0:30:22.560 --> 0:30:26.520 and actually, if they were essential workers, if they weren't 0:30:26.600 --> 0:30:31.120 gig workers, that they could pick up work here and there, right, 0:30:31.280 --> 0:30:34.160 which requires its own investment in order to be able 0:30:34.200 --> 0:30:41.640 to do. But the narrative is that Americans are either 0:30:41.800 --> 0:30:45.760 lazy or sitting on a bunch of fucking cash. And 0:30:45.920 --> 0:30:49.600