With Christmas just behind us, the inflation and supply shortages are leaving many aghast and confused as to how to buy some things for anywhere near market price. Though nearly everyone is being affected by the shortages, few know the causes of them.

Firstly, COVID-19’s impact is still rippling throughout the world despite people no longer noticing as much. Due to the pandemic, production had been severely affected, causing people to still stay at home, and people eventually quitting their jobs. The result was a lack of workers, which led to a shortage of production and an increase in general wages. Click here to read an article about “The Great Resignation” happening here in America.

With a current inflation rate of 6.8% according to the AP, the current gas prices going haywire, many people unemployed, and supply shortages aplenty; the current situation is dire.

Much of the short supplies lay in technology and computer part scalping. Scalping is the action of purchasing an item (usually in large quantities) so that it can be resold for over-inflated prices once the item is sold out.

The reason that computer parts are currently being scalped is due to cryptocurrency mining taking up so many parts. This has gotten even worse ever since the popularization of NFTs (Non-Fundable Tokens), which are typically virtual images sold for ridiculous prices. Though most people don’t understand NFTs, instead of the images themselves, a purchaser is truly just buying glorified receipts. More importantly, though, NFTs are only available for purchase by cryptocurrency, leading to more people mining it.

Now that gas prices are up around 49%, consumer prices up 7%, and so many shortages, the current state of the economy is critical. Though individually we consumers can’t make a major impact, if more people are knowledgeable about the causes of inflation, together, we can help make a difference.