[Kapitan]

My question about growing food was on an individual basis, rather than on a mass scale. That is - can the average 30-yr old suburbanite or 50-yr old city dweller figure out how to grow enough food to survive, preserve for the winter, or slaughter their own meat in the face of an extended shortage situation that could turn into an extended lack of civilization situation? Likely not - many people don't even know that pork was once a pig - they just see already butchered packages of meat in a store.

To be honest being a "city boy" ive been know to kill the odd cactus so I don't give much hope of me growing food stuffs, id bet it would be the same for most people.

I have been in supermarkets where moms and dads have said to kids do you know where milk comes from? yeah mommy from a carton in tesco so again not much hope.

As covid lockdowns continue, shortages may escalate. At some point, some natural event (Hurricane Ida here in the US, for example) will knock out electricity for an extended period of time, or shut down some essential industry that supplies the rest of a region, country, or the world. That then further exacerbates shortages down the line. I don't know how long it'll actually take to recover from that type of cascading failure.

On the maritime scale were looking at being back to normal provided nothing else happens by around late Q1 2022 maybe Q2 2022 that gives you an idea of how out of sync we are, thats important as 90% of world trade is done via sea, and the majority of food stuffs is shipped by sea.
Note this is in a perfect situation IE no more lock downs, no natural disasters and no covid.

The question is when do things like shortages expand into full-blown societal breakdown? Do we need a breakdown to get western nations off of the "order it from Amazon, if it breaks we'll get another one" built-in obsolescence cheap Chinese production consumerism?

Amazons core distribution is based on transport road and air predominantly, with a limited amount via sea, so if they are all out of sync you can bet even the mighty Amazon will (and is) suffering.

Naturally it is a scale of economics, its cheaper to import products from China because labor is so cheap so western economies cant compete product for product.
In Canada its cheaper to buy saudi oil and ship it to Vancouver than it is to get it out of the ground in Alberta.

How do you increase real wages of average people, spur growth in production to end shortages, and stop the throw-away model that western society is in right now?

You need a throw away culture in order to spur growth and product development, take the early 1900's as a prime example how many times have you heard "in my day things were built to last" well that is one reason the crash of 1929 happened consumers stopped buying because they had all they wanted.
Products went unsold because the consumer simply said well i have one of these it works I don't need another.
With that mindset we would all still be driving model T fords and using a washer and dryer inherited from our grand parents, the throw away culture has led to growth and spending in a domestic economy.
Having the latest gadget has become all the rage take I phone for example every so often a new phone and they stop supporting the old ones, then they go on big marketing campaigns and if you haven't got the latest gadget your stuck in the past almost vilified for it.

The western capitalist model is based on debt, it uses fractional reserve banking to create money from nothing, without the issuance of loans the banking houses couldn't create currency, when they issue a loan they create currency from nothing, hence why we have a FIAT monetary system that's not tied to a commodity. (1971 president nixon decided that one)

As to housing costs and wages - that seems to be a significant issue in every Western democracy. People have continued seeking more and more education in the hopes of increasing their earning potential. In countries where higher education is "free," it's at the expense of the taxpayer. In a place like the US, the phenomenon of "federal loans" means that costs will rise to meet what they can get from the person incurring the loan. The result, in either case, is a larger percentage of people staying in school far longer, resulting in incurring a larger initial debt or reducing their wage-earning years. I can't speak to other countries, but here in the US, you could graduate from a high school in any state and be ready to enter an apprenticeship, find a blue-collar job making a living wage, or go to college with the expectation of having an academic career or graduating with marketable additional skills. You could, up until the probably 1980s, earn a living wage and raise a family on just a high school diploma and a single earner. Now? Colleges and trade schools have to teach remedial math and english before they can teach job skills or a course of academic study. We have people with college degrees in worthless courses of study who can't get a job. We have two-income families (each earning a high 5-figure or low 6-figure salary) living paycheck to paycheck.

I agree with your statement here, I think the swiss have it about right they cap the number of people doing degrees and further education to 20% of the graduating year.
This means you have to be very good at all your subjects to be considered for a place in a swiss university and also critically the majority of places are for swiss citizens only.

After all the more degrees you give out the less value a degree has, in many western countries now you can get a degree in just about anything.
Brighton UK university was offering a degree in surfing I do believe, I mean what exactly will a surfing degree get you?
And if your having to go back and do remedial math's and English before doing a degree course or having to do it alongside a degree then realistically isn't that saying something about your lower education system?

The degree I did was meant for my profession, its actually very niche so its tailored to transport logistics and supply chain.
I don't have the best grades from high school, the only reason I was able to even do the degree was because I have time in service in the profession which qualified me.

Two income families earning the average UK wage £25,000 per year each will be saving for atleast 12-15 years just for a deposit and likely they would have had to live with their parents before striking out, anyone who was trying to do that renting has very little chance.

Government says that 2% inflation is healthy in reality if you have 2% inflation per year and wage stagnation year on year you loose 2% of your purchasing power as a consumer, so is it healthy of course not.

I have to say though those who choose to do university education should pay for it, it should not be subsidized by the tax payer.
Yes the debt is like a millstone around your neck for years but why should someone who has little hope of getting into a university thus likely to earn a lower wage for life have to subsidies those that do go to university and likely go on to be earning more than the average wage.

I also think the individual has to take some responsibility as well, many of my generation (I think I'm a millennial 1988) seem to think it is there right to free education, housing, jobs etc well they need to understand its not a right its a privilege.
Many of my old school friends went to university got degrees and masters came out and because they couldn't get a job in the field they studied just didn't work citing its not the job I want or qualified for.

I have done jobs I never wanted to do because the money was more important than anything else, its only now I am doing the further education.
The key point here is I am doing it now because I can pay for it without incurring the massive debt.

In reality the friends that I had that went to University became detached from reality, I cant have that car because it doesn't fit my status, or I can only live in this area and my house has to be £500,000 or more and stuff like that.
My Mrs was of that same mind, when we got approved for a house here in Canada the bank said yep your good to $475,000 my eyes popped in shock, but she was ready to go by that house for $475,000.
It was only when she realized that we would have very little hope of paying it all back before we died that she came onto my wave length, We don't live in the city where a shoe box costs half a million, but what we do have is 3 lots and a 4 bedroom house at $175,000 and a mortgage that's affordable.
The house I have if it was in Winnipeg would be close to a million, so yes we made sacrifices.

I guess I came at it from a different approach I did what was needed to be done, I saved up, lived where I needed to live even if I didn't like it and then worked my way up to where I am now.

Yes I have debt, I do have a mortgage, I do have a line of credit and I do have a vehicle loan, however my income and out going balance up and I still make enough to save money.

The entire system needs a re think and not just in the UK Canada or the USA but globally, if I can figure this out and make it work then why cant no one else?