this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2026
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I don’t know what’s sadder, how little $18/hr really is with today’s prices, or that despite that it’s still more than twice the national minimum wage.
the real jokerfying thing is that even low paying jobs are now competitive
Trvke. Like I know they’re getting a sick enjoyment out of it.
“Ooooh, we just had sooooo many GREAT choices for this cashier position. We went with the Harvard PhD. Sorry, but that flimsy master’s in Computer Engineering from Berkeley just ain’t good enough in this day and age.”
ikr? You think, "wow $18 that's like twice minimum wage!" then you realize minimum wage needed to be $18 back in 2019 to match inflation, and now with the very same inflation running away, well.
I'm pretty sure the inflation numbers are bullshit. They keep them intentionally low. But these bs numbers are how people calculate "livable" wages, salary increases, etc. And the divergence between actual and reported inflation has been ongoing for decades.
It's like higher order commodity fetishism.
You can reasonably determine the inflation of individual commodities but beyond that it's all about what commodities you decide to include.