Been wondering, like a lot of folks, what might happen when... "all the boats get unloaded, all the containers get trucked, all the warehouses get unclogged, and all the people get back into the full swing of production" around the world-
Assuming interest rates rise a bit to throttle growth, are prices on raw materials, electronics, etc. going to moderate or drop like a lead balloon ?
Or is what we are going through going to be used as justification to raise prices based on sustained demand and increasing labor costs?
Seems there's plenty of Community folk with a front line view of things in industry(s). Politics aside, what are you seeing/hearing?
Edit: Let me add one thing as an addendum to the discussion... and again, try to refrain from getting political here.
We have become dependent on products and low pricing out of Asia. The one thing that could throttle inflation is for trade riffs and shipping fears to abate to the point that we're back to sourcing highly competitive priced product out of Asia. UNLESS ....the combination of things that we have lived through over the last, hummm, say three years...will cause permanent repatriation of product production and consequentially higher prices.
I am going to say this will take at least a decade to sort out. In short, until we can fill many positions in trades like mechanics, machinists, construction, truck drivers, and so on, this isn't going to get fixed. I don't think society values those jobs right now, and many younger people don't even consider entering these jobs. I want to give more reasons, but it probably gets too political for this forum.
They will stay high. When was the last time something actually went down in price after it went up? They will keep prices high to maximize profits. OK, maybe commodity items like gasoline goes up and down, but most discretionary items like electronics and luxury items like cars don't go down in price until they are out of date.
This. I am very much a proponent of capitalism and free market systems, but the push to keep stock prices high is destructive in many ways. And the consumer (and often the employee) never wins. I am not opposed to paying people more, but at some point we get into a vicious cycle of pay increases vs inflation where everyone loses. And I think we are in one of those times currently.
On the upside, hopefully there will be more of a focus on making home life easier, both for those working from home, but also for the possibilities of home care for those older citizens or those who need care for other reasons.
