Inflation has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. Dating back all the way back to the civil war. The main driving forces of inflation are demand pull, cost and push, and inflation expectations. The recent surge of inflation is mostly from the pandemic, but it is even deeper than just that. The recent surge in inflation has been driven, at least in part, by supply chain issues, pent-up consumer demand and economic stimulus from the pandemic. As well as the labor market tightened during 2021 and 2022, core inflation rose as the ratio of job vacancies to unemployment increased. This ratio is used to measure wage pressures that then pass through to the prices for goods and services. From this everything you can think of has increased from the gas prices, groceries, houses, cars almost anything you can buy has been increased. The people that are struggling the most from these changes are low income households around the country and there is almost nothing that they can do to reverse these effects.
To get a closer insight at how inflation affects the community, we got a different perspective from students and staff around the Buena Park high school campus, we asked staff member Robert Summers. As he puts it “it’s really inconvenient” as well as stating it affects his life by seeing “gas prices go up, grocery prices go up”. He points out that almost everything we buy has gone up. When asked how to resolve the problem he simply puts it “we need a new government”, this in part begs the question, Is inflation a government problem or people problem? To get a different perspective we asked student Jordan Heredia. When asked about what he thinks about inflation he said “It’s unfortunate you know some people can’t even buy their own groceries and this is bad”. When asked how it affects him he said “I can’t buy the things I really want anymore and from inflation gas prices have gone up, rent has gone up, and food has gone up and it really affects everybody.” When asked how to resolve the issue Jordan says “we should protest against the government because that is the only way I could see the Government doing something about it.” Jordan believe that the people should do something about this issue and protest against the government which could help resolve the issue. Jordan points out the people have a say in this issue as well as the government.
Gathering the perspectives between a staff member and a student shows that they are both affected in some way in their life. From gas prices to groceries, the necessities we need to survive have increased and from this people aren’t able to have luxuries anymore. Inflation has been a big thing over the past year and things do seem to be getting better as of late, but it is up to the government to keep this in check. Inflation has been around for years and it has only gotten worse and its drastic effects have limited millions of people in the United States since the up tick because of Covid. It is up to the people as well as the government to resolve this seemed everlasting issue.
