Have you filled up the gas tank recently? Bought groceries? If you feel like you have to dig deeper in your wallet to get less, and spend more just to simply get by, you are not imagining things. This past April, American workers saw a jump in inflation of 4.2%, making it the highest increase since the stock market crash of 2008. Corporations have been raising their prices because they aren’t making as much profit as they would like. Not only have we sacrificed our lives and health, after over a year of the economic crisis set in motion by the COVID-19 pandemic with high levels of unemployment, working people and our families can’t seem to catch a break. Those of us who are currently working often have to take care of recently unemployed family members and now we have to deal with the higher costs of living. Let’s call this inflation what it really is: a pay cut!
With everything going up, why shouldn’t our pay? Why should our lives be sacrificed for their profits? Even before but especially during the pandemic, we have been expected to sacrifice. It is past time that we say, “no, we will not continue to sacrifice any more, it is time that the rich are forced to sacrifice their profits. Our lives are not disposable!”
