It’s all a joke.
Governments under report inflation, businesses grant increases “exceeding inflation,” the majority of the population feels they’re gaining ground while doing nothing TO warrant it, lifestyles improve via imports.
It appears to work long enough to exceed generational memory—until it doesn’t. System collapses, massive suffering from which coming generations “progress” from, but no longer better than pre-collapse.
The money masters take a piece of every single transaction. It’s all creative theft.