The national pay cut

If you lived overseas for any length of time as I have you would quickly come to grips with the buying power of the currency in which you are paid.

During stable times there have been adjustments equalizing those differences. From time to time a currency of a country where it needs to impoverish it's citizens rather than tax them is allowed to drift. Mexico did that in the early 80s. They imposed an annual inflation that had the net effect of reducing the income of it's people on an equal scale yet without having to collect taxes.

Sometimes when a country gets out of balance with the rest of the world, under the banner of free trade and open borders the default decision is made to reduce the incomes of that country to make them more like the rest of the world.

The USA has had (in the mind of some) disproportionate higher incomes and lifestyle than the rest of the world. So, without trying to, the world and our government has given us all a national pay cut.

You see it in your gas price, your grocery price, your housing costs and a hundred other ways. We have had our wages and salaries cut as surely as if the boss showed up on a Friday and said, we need to compete with the fellow down to street so to do so we are going to cut everyone's wages 30%.

That's what open borders have done. That's what a lot of failed policies have done. We have thrown our lifestyle economics overboard with a weak dollar and the resultant high prices.

What brought this all to mind was the criticism of American Airlines today for flying to Britain with only 5 people on board. Yes it was silly. But more important WHY. I have flown to Britain dozens of times and it was always pretty full.

I'm guessing it's because in Britain in dollars a sandwich at Starbucks is $24. A room at the "Cheap" hotel is 350 per night.

So, lump the wage cut. It ain't coming back, Republican or Democrat. I sure trust Democrats far less than Republicans to solve this, but I don't trust either of them MUCH.