Inflation is uneven, and it tends to pool in markets that are:
a.) close to the point where the money is injected
b.) have quick-adapting prices, ideally ones where competitors bid against each other
c.) are dominated by 1-2 firms with little competition, so they have pricing power.
Google and Facebook tick all the boxes. In COVID money was injected directly to the consumers (thanks to stimulus payments) and to small or mid-size business (PPP loans). Google and Facebook run up-to-the-minute ad auctions, so prices adapt immediately to additional money becoming available. And they have little real competition, so it's not like they can be undercut by competitors.
By contrast, wages (for example) a.) require that your employer have more money, which generally requires that it have trickled down through the whole value chain b.) get updated usually once per year and c.) generally require that your competition also decide they're going to ask for more money too, less your employer just decide to employ someone else. That's why wages are often the last and stickiest place that inflation shows up.
The general phenomena of certain businesses being able to raise prices earlier, faster, and more than others in response to rising money supply is called the Cantillon Effect, and is a pretty fertile ground for making lots of money in an inflationary environment.
a.) close to the point where the money is injected
b.) have quick-adapting prices, ideally ones where competitors bid against each other
c.) are dominated by 1-2 firms with little competition, so they have pricing power.
Google and Facebook tick all the boxes. In COVID money was injected directly to the consumers (thanks to stimulus payments) and to small or mid-size business (PPP loans). Google and Facebook run up-to-the-minute ad auctions, so prices adapt immediately to additional money becoming available. And they have little real competition, so it's not like they can be undercut by competitors.
By contrast, wages (for example) a.) require that your employer have more money, which generally requires that it have trickled down through the whole value chain b.) get updated usually once per year and c.) generally require that your competition also decide they're going to ask for more money too, less your employer just decide to employ someone else. That's why wages are often the last and stickiest place that inflation shows up.
The general phenomena of certain businesses being able to raise prices earlier, faster, and more than others in response to rising money supply is called the Cantillon Effect, and is a pretty fertile ground for making lots of money in an inflationary environment.