Posting this because while I was watching the video so many of the issues sounded like what gaming is complaining about now (or skirting over as they find other complaints to avoid the root issues). Airlines are barely breaking even on the actual product they sell (flights) and relying on other service businesses like credit cards to turn a profit. They’re also relying more on individual travelers to purchase premium tickets following COVID. People themselves are coming to just accept that flying’s value to cost ratio is terrible and have accepted that they’re just going to keep paying more for the same or even worse experiences. The reasons behind these problems are all very familiar too. Companies choosing to take their profits and put it toward shareholder bonuses and payouts instead of reinvesting in sustainable growth in the business. Companies screaming bloody murder about costs do they nickel and dime everything and refuse to buy and store more resources than their projections say they need in the immediate future. The company stays lean and cuts down costs up up until some global economic crisis and all of a sudden costs skyrocket. Everything has become so short sighted and focused on benefiting shareholders instead of creating real value for the company.
I’m not someone who thinks people will wake up and figure out socialism (as in every person working together without need for personal gain), but I think capitalism will have to have some kind of revolution. Maybe in decades. Maybe after another great depression. I don’t know but this happening across industries is alarming because it shows the issue isn’t isolated. All they can do at this point is rely on us to spend more and more while also doing nothing to make it worth it and also not even growing jobs and wages enough to match price increases. How are we expected to keep up with premium spending when they aren’t even giving us the jobs for it. Everything being focused on creating shareholder value and not real value for the economy isn’t good. These shareholders aren’t even like reinvesting that money themselves into new startup businesses or business ventures. Trickle down economics was never a thing and it’s just becoming more and more painful for us consumers. The wealth gap keeps widening and people priced out. How long do they think they can keep this up? Oh who am I kidding, they don’t care because either way they’ll be the ones least affected by the blowout.
