SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Local businesses are having a tough time trying to find help. You may have noticed this with “Now Hiring” posters appearing in storefront windows or planted on street corners. These signs may be small in size, but they could be pointing to a larger economic problem.
Syracuse University Professor and economist, Carl Schramm believes the stimulus checks issued to help Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic may be inviting the unemployed to stay home.
“You watch people actually getting conditioned to not working and relying on the government,” Schramm said. “Once that happens, you create political force for the government to continue these payments, which we’re watching right now.”
Schramm says businesses are raising wages in order to attract workers and that leads to higher prices for the goods and services. Then, consumers reevaluate spending habits. He believes that the economy could be heading toward something called stagflation.
Stagflation is described as a “non-growth economy, with inflation,” Schramm said. “It is about the worst condition an economist can imagine for average people in the economy.”
Schramm predicts the combination will lead to an economic collapse.
