1st hundred days why am I not surprised ?

[Ninurta]

POV Observation warning: I have noticed a lot more people around me going to, for lack of a better term, the individual or local network economy. People selling skills or stuff to other people directly. No store or third party. It's probably a very natural thing for humans to do. Not artificial. I could be wrong.

I think they may be falling back on the "barter economy", which is the natural outcome of governmental interference destroying a thriving economy. Individuals can, and will, create their own local economies, a sort of "black market" that bypasses governmental regulation and control entirely when they perceive that government interference is impinging on their own ability to economically survive and thrive.

It has happened in every instance of a socialist economy, when that economy collapses under it's own weight and poor management. Even the mighty, iron-fisted Soviet Union had a thriving black market. I can recall a time when American blue jeans could be bought for 8 or 10 dollars a pair here, shipped to Russia, and unloaded there for around 75 dollars a pair, for a handsome profit.

just as was observed in the movie Jurassic Park, "life will find a way"... and, likewise, economy will find a way, too. Even if it involves smuggling, barter, and a "gray" or "black" market to interact outside the scope of the officially controlled market. All it takes is for someone to have a demand, someone else to move the supply, and a level of ineptitude in government that precludes normal channels of commerce from happening.

This is why I have been advising folks for some time now to get in on the ground floor of the "barter economy". I can see staggering levels of ineptitude in our current regime, and that will lead, inevitably and inexorably, to a thriving black market and barter economy. The alternative would be extinction via starvation.

But life, and an economy, will always find a way - even if it's not a strictly legal way. Survival supercedes petty things like law in the final analysis.

ETA: And this - 

As you point out, the governmental reaction to the C19 boogie man has really destabilized the economy. Normally if labor is scare, companies would offer better pay and benefits. Not happening at least as far as I can see. A few hiring bonuses here and there but that's it. Kind of anemic. 

I think they are relying on the fact that many have been out of work for over a year now, so they think those hungry folk would jump at a chance for a job without the incentives. they seem to be finding out differently. What they are not accounting for, in my opinion, is that a year is a very long time to go hungry, and most folks will find a way to prevent their belt buckles from slapping the hell out of their backbones during that time. Employers will have to overcome the incentive of being able to feed one's self without having to punch someone else's time clock, so eventually, the incentives will trickle in, once they figure that out. In my opinion, they will have to bring them before BidenHarris' Marxist economic policies choke out their ability to do so, so it's a race they are currently losing.

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