Wait . . . what? American salaries are crashing, along with the stock market?

Photo Above - no, this is NOT the makeup guy for the Hellraiser film. It's an acupuncturist, at an average $100K a year. Probably more in southern California, and less in South Carolina.

American salaries are falling. So says the BBC, in the link below. There’s a similar article in the online WSJ today, but it’s behind their paywall. The WSJ coyly calls declining paychecks a “Wall of Salary Deflation”. Clever.

Let’s settle one misunderstanding right away. This whole pay cut thing started BEFORE inauguration day. In January the stock market was peaking with irrational exuberance over the economic nirvana supposedly accompanying Trump. America's consumption was already declining in 2024. A study by ZipRecruiter found half of American companies were reducing pay. Or at least trying to. 2 million companies use ZipRecruiter to find prospective employees.

In some cases – the lucky ones, people who already HAVE jobs – the recent annual performance review doesn’t reduce pay. It just holds the line, with no annual increase. The UAW with their new $140,000 contract cashed in at the best possible moment, eh? But what are you gonna do, when the president jets out to Detroit in Air Force one, to join striking workers on the picket line? Inflation-enabler-in-chief.

Excessive salaries aren't confined to dropouts whose toolbelt holds only a screwdriver and pliers. Salaries in many lines of work have gotten out of whack. Teachers began quitting to take jobs as Air Traffic Controllers ($124,500). There’s at least one Walmart store manager earning $500,000 annually. The “water chief” of Los Angeles – Janice Quinones – is still on the job, even after draining the reservoirs for “maintenance” during the peak wildfire season. She'd draining the Los Angeles budget of $750,000 a year for her salary. Twice what the president gets. Janise is still on the job. The Fire Chief was fired instead . . .

I don’t think petroleum engineers are overpaid at $138K. Or nuclear plant techs at $100K. Private chefs (average $140K) might start feeling the pain. Lots of acupuncturists and music therapists earn more than $100K. Seriously . . . I am NOT making this up. Some get more than an Air Force fighter pilot. No wonder, as the BBC coyly puts it, US compensation is undergoing a “reset”.

Who’s going to get hurt the worst? Some would say acupuncturists, but that's probably wrong. When holistic shamans and fake reservoir experts are forced out of their jobs, they will still get hired for SOMETHING.

Expect the real pain to fall on fast food workers who saw their minimum wage go ffom $7.50 an hour to $18-$20 an hour during over the past several years. THOSE people have unrealistic expectations about future paycheck gains, given their recent experience. Fast food workers will not only be competing against AI and robots, but also squaring off against the newly unemployed and previously overpaid slackers, named above.

The hilariously overpaid upper-echelon men and women are the REAL cause of America’s inflation. Honestly - $750,000 for some girl who never worked in the water business before - what were we thinking? My head hurts. I need some music therapy. But I'll use YouTube. It doesn't cost $100,000 a year.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

US salaries are falling. Employers say compensation is just 'resetting'

Job Seekers Hit Wall of Salary Deflation