The people getting screwed hardest by our economic system are the ones keeping it running. Workers accept 3% inflation as normal while banks pay 0.5% interest. This unconscious compliance props up Western economies—but for how long?
Here's a thing that keeps me up at night: the people getting screwed the hardest by our economic system are the exact same people keeping it running. I'm talking about your average worker in Europe, Canada, Australia—places where you can make a decent salary but somehow still feel broke every month. They're unconsciously propping up a system designed to bleed them dry, and most of them have no idea it's happening.
This isn't some conspiracy theory. It's basic math wrapped in psychology, and the numbers are absolutely brutal.
Let me put it this way: your money is like an ice cube sitting on your kitchen counter. Every single day, it gets a little smaller. You know this, right? But somehow you've convinced yourself it's normal.
The scale of currency debasement is honestly staggering. The U.S. M2 money supply expanded by 27% between February 2020 and February 2021—that's more money creation in one year than most decades combined. Meanwhile, a Big Mac went from costing about $2.50 in 2000 to over $6 today—that's a 154% increase while wages barely budged.
What's really interesting is that half of all OECD countries still haven't recovered their pre-pandemic purchasing power. Workers in Canada are down 2.4% in real wages, Australia down 4.8%. Meanwhile, we're 61.8% more productive than we were in 1979, but wages only grew 17.5%. Where did that extra value go? Great question.
And this is where things get really perverse: while your paycheck buys less bread and rent every year, you're also getting taxed more. The average European pays around 40-47% of their income in various taxes—France hits 44% of GDP. Americans think they have it easy at 27%, but try buying a house or getting sick and suddenly that "low tax" rate doesn't feel so generous.
Meanwhile, if you're one of those responsible people who actually tries to save money? You're getting absolutely demolished. Banks pay you 0.5% interest while inflation runs at 3-8%. You're literally paying the bank to hold your money while it loses purchasing power. It's a systematic punishment of anyone trying to be financially responsible.
You know what's wild? This isn't even the first time this has happened. Rome debased their silver currency until it collapsed. Weimar Germany printed money until people needed wheelbarrows full of cash to buy bread. Venezuela destroyed their currency so badly that millions of people fled the country.
Every fiat currency in history has eventually failed—not because of some external shock, but because governments couldn't resist the temptation to print their way out of problems. Our current system isn't different or special. It's just newer.
You're essentially running on a treadmill that speeds up every year while someone keeps raising the incline. And somehow, you keep running.
So why don't more people just... stop? Why do millions of workers keep showing up, paying taxes, and using currency that loses value every day? The answer is fascinating and kind of heartbreaking.
Most people are what internet culture calls NPCs—Non-Player Characters. It's borrowed from video games, where NPCs are the background characters who follow their programming without questioning the bigger picture. In real life, these are the folks who go to work, pay their bills, file their taxes, and trust that the system basically works.
And you know what? Without them, Western economies would collapse tomorrow.
Think about it: if everyone suddenly understood that inflation is a hidden tax, that their savings are being systematically devalued, that they're working harder for less purchasing power each year—what would happen? Mass protests? Tax strikes? A run on the banks?
Instead, we have millions of people who treat 3% annual inflation as normal background noise. They blame "greedy corporations" for higher prices instead of connecting it to money printing. They accept that housing costs 30% of their income now when it used to cost 15%. They keep their savings in accounts that pay 0.5% interest while inflation runs at 3-8%.
This unconscious compliance is literally what keeps the lights on. These workers pay the bulk of income taxes, they use the national currency without question, they fund the government programs, they service the national debt through their productivity. They're the engine that powers a system designed to slowly transfer their wealth upward.
Now here's what's fascinating—not everyone stays asleep forever.
You're seeing more people hit their breaking point. The "Great Resignation" saw record numbers quit traditional jobs in 2021. U.S. business formation hit all-time highs as people chose to work for themselves rather than stay in systems that punish productivity. Millions migrated from high-tax states like California and New York to places like Texas and Florida—literally voting with their feet.
Some people look at the math and think: "Why am I grinding for a raise when half goes to taxes and the rest barely buys anything more than last year?" They start asking uncomfortable questions. They discover that the monetary system isn't some natural law—it's a choice. And they begin looking for alternatives.
Meanwhile, the majority adapts. They rationalize higher prices as "corporate greed" or "supply chain issues." They accept tax increases as "the price of civilization." They trust their pension will be there in 30 years despite government debt exploding exponentially.
This creates a weird two-engine economy: the compliant masses providing steady power, and a smaller group of rebels finding escape hatches.
So what's the escape hatch? For a growing number of people, it's Bitcoin.
I'm talking about Bitcoin as savings technology—not the crypto casino or some moonshot investment. Think of it as a digital vault that governments can't print their way into.
Here's why it matters: while fiat currencies can be debased at will (remember that 27% money supply increase?), Bitcoin has a hard cap of 21 million coins. Ever. No central bank can decide to print more Bitcoin to fund government programs or bail out banks. It's packaged energy that holds its value across time and space. Even if more people want it, the supply will never increase.
Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas put it perfectly: "Fiat is a fraud. Bitcoin is the escape hatch."
Right now, roughly 6-7% of the global population owns cryptocurrency, with about 17% of Americans having touched it. Many people are still distracted with crypto and not realizing that Bitcoin is the only asset to pay attention to, so Bitcoin's adoption numbers are significantly lower. That means over 90% of people haven't even looked at the life raft. They're still bailing water from the sinking ship instead of questioning why the ship is taking on water in the first place.
For those who get it, Bitcoin represents something profound: the ability to opt out of monetary debasement. Instead of watching your purchasing power erode year after year, you can store value in an asset that appreciates over time as more people recognize its utility.
But here's the thing—most NPCs will never wake up to this. They'll keep their savings in banks paying 0.5% while inflation runs hot. They'll trust government promises about "transitory" inflation (for years). They'll stay on the treadmill.
You might wonder: if the math is so obvious, why don't more people see it?
The answer is partly psychological, partly practical. For many people, questioning the entire monetary system feels overwhelming. If you're raising kids, working two jobs, just trying to keep your head above water—diving deep into Austrian economics isn't exactly a priority. It's easier to trust that smarter people have it figured out.
There's also what I call "willful blindness." Some people sense something's wrong but choose not to dig deeper because the implications are scary. If the dollar is being systematically debased, if your pension might not be there, if the government is essentially robbing you through inflation—that's a heavy psychological load.
So they focus on what they can control: their job, their family, their immediate concerns. They outsource the big-picture stuff to politicians and central bankers and hope for the best. In a weird way, this might be a survival strategy—staying sane by not thinking too hard about systemic problems you feel powerless to change.
There's also a social element. If everyone around you is playing the game—working for dollars, saving in bank accounts, trusting the system—then questioning it feels antisocial or paranoid. Herd behavior has evolutionary advantages. It's comfortable to do what everyone else is doing.
This creates our current situation: Western economies running on two engines. The first engine is massive—millions of unconscious workers providing steady tax revenue, using debased currency, accepting the rules without question. The second engine is smaller but more dynamic—people finding ways to opt out, protect their wealth, and build alternatives.
It's a strange equilibrium. The system depends on most people staying asleep while tolerating a minority who wake up and find escape routes. Too many rebels and tax revenue collapses. Too few and innovation stagnates.
But equilibriums don't last forever.
Ernest Hemingway once wrote about how bankruptcy happens: "Gradually, then suddenly." The same applies to monetary systems and the social contracts that support them.
Right now, we're in the "gradually" phase. Inflation erodes purchasing power slowly enough that people adapt. Tax burdens increase incrementally so there's no dramatic revolt. The frog doesn't notice the water getting hotter.
But what happens when more people wake up? What if 20% of productive workers discover Bitcoin and start opting out of the traditional tax base? What if enough skilled professionals migrate to low-tax jurisdictions? What if inflation stays persistently high and people stop believing it's "transitory"?
Or flip it around: what if the government gets more aggressive about preventing exits? Capital controls, attempts to "ban" Bitcoin and increasing exit taxes? How long can you run an economy on unconscious compliance if the conscious minority gets squeezed too hard?
These aren't abstract questions. We're seeing hints of both dynamics already. More people discovering Bitcoin, more migration to tax-friendly states, more entrepreneurs going independent. But also more regulatory pressure on crypto, more surveillance of financial transactions, more attempts to close the exits.
Here's what I keep coming back to: Western societies have proven remarkably resilient, thanks largely to people who simply do their jobs and don't ask too many questions. The NPC workforce has been the unsung hero of economic stability.
But as pressures mount—endless money printing, higher taxes, technological disruption, generational wealth gaps—you have to wonder: is this dynamic stable, or are we just delaying an inevitable reckoning?
I don't have the answers, but I'm watching closely. The current system works as long as the majority stays unconscious and the minority stays small enough not to threaten the tax base. It's a delicate balance that requires most people to keep believing in a game that's rigged against them.
The title says "for now" because nothing lasts forever. Systems that depend on unconscious compliance eventually hit limits—either when too many people wake up, or when the system becomes so extractive that even the unconscious can't ignore it anymore.
My guess? We're somewhere in the middle of that process. The interesting question isn't whether change is coming—it's whether that change happens gradually or suddenly, and whether we'll be ready when it does.
The NPCs who keep everything running today might not be NPCs forever. And when they wake up—if they wake up—things could get very interesting very quickly.
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Thank you for reading Why NPCs Are Keeping Western Societies Afloat—for Now. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this article.
Let me know on 𝕏 or below? Thanks!
Bram Kanstein
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Economic Data:
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