What's Wrong with the Economy?

It’s not just you. Things feel broken because, well, they are.

Why does everything feel off?

You’re working harder than ever (if you have a job), but your rent is insane. You’re applying to hundreds of jobs and never hear back. At this point, you’re praying for even a rejection email. Groceries are expensive. Home prices and interest rates make homeownership a joke. You keep hearing the job market is “strong,” but the math isn’t mathing and people tell you to dip into your savings, but you literally have none.

So… what’s going on?

Is it inflation? The Fed? Greedy corporations? AI? The algorithm? Is mercury in gatorade? 😆

Here’s what I think is going on:

I studied Economics in university and the first thing they teach you in Econ 101, right after they make you buy a $200 textbook you’ll never open again, is this: “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

Which is ironic, because during the COVID years, the U.S. government handed out lunch, dinner, dessert, and Uber credits home.

When COVID hit in 2020, the economy hit a wall. People were told to stay home. Businesses shut down. Supply chains collapsed. It was a global emergency, and policymakers panicked. It was unprecedented times.

And instead of asking what kind of crisis is this, they reached for the same playbook they used in the 2008 financial crisis.

Before we go further, let’s clear up two terms that get thrown around a lot: monetary and fiscal policy. They’re the two big levers policymakers pull when the economy goes off a cliff.

• Monetary policy is set by the Federal Reserve. It deals with interest rates and the money supply. Think of it as the Fed adjusting the economy’s thermostat.

• Fiscal policy comes from Congress and the White House. It sets taxes and government spending. who pays, who gets paid, and how much gets pumped into the economy.

In theory, these tools are supposed to stabilize the economy. In practice, during COVID, they were both used like a toddler playing whack-a-mole with a sledgehammer.

The Fed Got Scared of the Dark

Let’s start with monetary policy.

In March 2020, the Fed cut interest rates to zero and promised to keep them there for the foreseeable future. They also restarted quantitative easing, basically printing money to buy bonds, and pumped the financial system with liquidity.

What does that mean in plain English? Imagine the economy is a car. COVID hit, and the engine stalled, not because it was broken, but because someone turned the key off. Instead of waiting to restart it properly, the Fed poured the tank with gas, floored the pedal, and hoped it would roar back to life. Now the engine’s flooded, the car won’t start, and somehow, we’re being blamed for not driving.

They pumped trillions into the system to make sure banks kept lending, businesses didn’t collapse, and markets didn’t crash. But the real problem wasn’t that people couldn’t spend money, it’s that they were locked inside and weren’t allowed to do anything. So all that extra cash just sat there… until it didn’t.

Leadership Decided to Play Santa

Meanwhile, on the fiscal side, Congress, under both Trump and Biden, got very generous. We’re talking stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment, PPP loans, eviction moratoriums, expanded child tax credits. It was bipartisan Christmas. You probably remember people suddenly flexing LV bags and Gucci loafers on your social media feed. People had money and spent it how they wanted.

The thinking from both the Fed, Congress, and the White House was we didn’t do enough in 2008. Let’s not repeat that mistake.

But this wasn’t 2008. That was a demand-side financial collapse: banks failed, people lost jobs, consumers stopped spending. COVID was an external shock. It wasn’t that people didn’t want to spend, they literally couldn’t. The economy wasn’t structurally broken, it was just frozen. What people needed was temporary, targeted support and what the system needed was supply-side reinforcement.

Instead, the government injected trillions into an economy that literally couldn’t produce enough goods or services to meet that surge in demand. Predictably, prices shot up. Inflation spiked, and despite what the Fed wants us to believe, hasn’t really abated since.

We Misdiagnosed the Crisis

The financial turmoil brought about by COVID wasn’t a typical recession. It was a forced pause.

But policymakers didn’t stop to ask, “Wait, what actually needs fixing here?” They just tossed trillions into a frozen system and hoped for the best.

Remember our stalled car? They just kept adding more fuel and slamming the gas hoping something would work. It’s not what we needed.

What we needed was:

• Targeted aid for essential workers and vulnerable businesses

• Supply chain resilience and strategic stockpiles

• Plans for how to restart safely

What we got:

• Sky-high asset prices

• Prices rising faster than paychecks

• A housing market that’s both overheated and out of reach

So Whose Fault Is It?

It’s tempting to blame this all on “greedy corporations” or “global instability.” But the way I see it, this was partially a man-made disaster crafted by Congress, enabled by the Fed, and signed off by two different administrations, both Democrat and Republican.

They misread the crisis. Traumatized by the Great Recession, they threw money at the wrong problem. And now, when you can’t afford rent, groceries, or a 7% mortgage, you’re told it’s your fault. You didn’t budget. You need to work harder. Maybe pick up a side hustle, king.

The real problem? We had a once-in-a-century shock, and the people in charge treated it like 2008 in cosplay. No one asked what kind of crisis this actually was. No one considered that pumping demand into a blocked supply chain was just flooding the engine and leaving us stuck.

And now, to make things worse, the economy is undergoing another transformation entirely, one that no one in Washington seems equipped to handle.

Even as inflation eats away at wages and homeownership becomes a fantasy, we’re being told to “re-skill” and “embrace innovation.” AI is here. Automation is accelerating. Entire industries are being restructured in real time.

We are living through a not-so-quiet revolution in the nature of work, and there is no serious plan for how society will adapt to it. Not from the Fed. Not from Congress. Not from Silicon Valley, unless you count X threads, LinkedIn posts, and just vibes.

Meanwhile, workers are blamed for not keeping up, despite doing everything they were told. Go to college. Get a job. Buy a house. Save for retirement. Stick to the script and you’ll be fine.

The Bottom Line

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Eventually, someone pays.

And right now, that someone is you.

Those in power misdiagnosed the crisis, misapplied the cure, and now we’re staring down a future of high prices, shrinking opportunity, and massive technological upheaval, with the same tired tools and the same tired excuses.

The people in charge flooded the engine. The rest of us are stuck pushing the car uphill.