The Deprogram Episode 226 - Cost of living crisis
Mar 24, 2026
A lively dive into how rising prices, stagnant wages, and disappearing pensions squeeze everyday life. They trace corporate rent-seeking, housing financialization, and Airbnb-driven displacement. Military spending, privatization, and friend-shoring get blamed for diverting resources. Racialized impacts, gig precarity, debt traps, and the political choice between organizing or private immiseration are highlighted.
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Starter Homes Bought And Flipped By Institutional Investors
- JT recounts institutional investors buying starter homes and gentrifying neighborhoods, displacing original owners.
- He explains investors patch cosmetic issues, raise rents, and trap new residents in lifelong renting cycles.
Inflation Latches Prices Upward For Corporate Gains
- Inflation functions as a wage-devaluation tool and a profit driver that firms rarely reverse after peaks.
- Hakim notes firms keep raised prices after inflation subsides, creating permanent higher price norms across housing and medicine.
Gig Work Strips Away Basic Employment Protections
- Gig economy reclassifies workers as contractors to avoid obligations and erode social wage protections.
- Hakim points to DoorDash/Uber drivers lacking healthcare, sick leave, pension access because of contractor status.