Let me put it this way. I have a Boss who owns two hotels, three or four vehicles, two or three homes. Probably a lot more I don't know about. This man is in the top 5% at the very least - and is always complaining that he's broke. I know what people like him will do - because I have been working for them my whole life. Consider what the market bears right now. I live in a very economically poor, struggling part of the Country. The hotel I work for charges 115 per night as a standard rate. It's a three star.
I know of precious few people locally who can afford that rate - so in my case, we tend to rely on non-local customers.... business has been dreadful this year - but it hasn't stopped the rise in cost. Local businesses are dying here - but this does not stop the wealthy from raising the prices. That should tell you something. It should indicate that the same kind of people that caused the financial crisis in the first place are still in charge.
Consumers will pay what they must. A local grocery store will raise the price of bread perhaps 30 cents - and Walmart will raise it by 10. People will pay it because they must. Something similar to that scenario is how I see things playing out. Perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps logic will prevail or the rich will simply take the profit cut without passing it along to the consumer, perhaps they'll be inclined to worry about the market's ability to bear the price increase... but somehow I doubt it.
Where has all of our "economic recovery" gone? Where have most of the cuts to "balance the budget" been coming from? What did we do as a result? Did we help American workers or consumers? Not quite. We spent truly disgusting amounts of money bailing out financial institutions and large corporations.
Even if the price increase only IS for necessities, that's going to be more than enough to break a good number of people. Raising the minimum wage to 10 dollars an hour or so is a step in the right direction (it's not enough, but it's a start), but by itself, it will not accomplish what is required. We need to do more if we're going to help the working class truly move forward.
Personally, I'm inclined to expect the worst from our ruling class.
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