Inflation is the convenient villain right now.
It’s blamed for everything:
And yes — inflation is real.
But let’s be honest about something nobody wants to say out loud:
Inflation didn’t destroy the middle class. Employers hollowed it out long before prices exploded.
Inflation just finished the job.
This didn’t happen suddenly.
The middle class didn’t wake up one morning and disappear like a bad crypto project. It was chipped away slowly, year after year, decision after decision — mostly inside boardrooms.
Things didn’t break.
They were adjusted.
Adjusted wages.
Adjusted benefits.
Adjusted expectations.
Always downward.
Let’s rewind.
Productivity went up.
Technology improved.
Efficiency exploded.
But pay?
Pay barely moved.
For decades, companies figured out how to:
Job descriptions quietly doubled.
Raises became rare.
Bonuses became mythical.
And when workers asked questions, they were told:
“That’s just how the market is.”
Funny how the market always seemed to benefit one side.
Inflation is useful.
It gives companies cover.
They get to say:
Meanwhile:
Inflation became the excuse — not the cause.
If inflation were the real problem, wages would rise alongside prices.
They didn’t.
Before wages flatlined, benefits were quietly dismantled.
Things older generations had:
Things newer generations got:
Benefits didn’t disappear because they were impossible.
They disappeared because companies decided they were optional.
Every job posting says it:
“Competitive pay”
Competitive with what exactly?
Most of the time it means:
If pay were truly competitive, workers wouldn’t be:
“Competitive pay” became corporate slang for “don’t ask too many questions.”
There was a time when staying at a company meant something.
You stayed → you moved up
You worked hard → you were rewarded
You were loyal → you were protected
Now?
Employers broke the deal first.
Workers just adapted.
Inflation didn’t invent financial stress.
It exposed how fragile everything already was.
Millions of people realized:
That’s not inflation’s fault.
That’s what happens when wages lag reality for decades.
When people struggle, the response is always:
“Just get a better job.”
As if:
If everyone gets a “better job,” those jobs just become the new underpaid baseline.
The problem isn’t individuals failing to level up.
It’s a system that capped upward movement while pretending opportunity was endless.
Another quiet shift:
People are more educated than ever — and paid like it doesn’t matter.
Degrees became requirements.
Certifications stacked up.
Experience expectations ballooned.
Pay?
Stayed insulting.
Employers demanded more while offering less and called it “market value.”
That’s not economics.
That’s leverage.
Side hustles didn’t explode because people love working nonstop.
They exploded because:
Side hustles aren’t ambition.
They’re survival strategies with better branding.
And the moment side hustles became normal, employers felt even less pressure to pay properly.
By the time inflation surged:
Prices rising didn’t break the middle class.
They revealed how little cushion was left.
One of the most insulting trends?
Companies acting like employment itself is a favor.
You should be:
Even when:
Gratitude replaced fairness.
The middle class didn’t vanish.
It was:
Many people still look middle class:
But financially?
They’re one shock away from collapse.
That’s not a healthy class.
That’s a balancing act.
Blaming inflation alone lets the real problem off the hook.
It shifts focus away from:
And as long as inflation takes all the blame, nothing structurally changes.
Say it without apologizing:
Employers made deliberate choices.
Those choices reshaped the middle class.
We’re not here to yell “eat the rich” and move on.
We’re here to:
Without pretending the system is fair.
Without blaming individuals for structural problems.
Inflation made life harder.
But employers made it fragile.
And until that truth is acknowledged, the middle class won’t recover — it’ll just keep pretending it still exists.
Welcome to UglyBrokeSmelly, where we don’t blame the weather when the house was already rotting.
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