Maybe it’s that the “US economy” and it’s metrics are severely detached from the American people. Unless we’re still on this corporations are people too bullshit
So very much all of this. Just because corpo America, the 1% and the fake numbers stock market are doing good means nothing for the average American.
Our wages are stagnate. Our healthcare either kills you or bankrupts you. Our housing is prohibitively expensive. Our food is to expensive to eat. Our education system doesn't educate and is slowly privatizing. And our police are killing us in lieu of protecting us.
But we've got guns for tot's, piles of dead school children, an insurrectionist running for president, insurrectionists in congress facing zero consequences, a fading separation of church and state. Rising hate crime numbers. And a corrupt Supreme Court openly accepting bribes to destroy democracy.
Yeah Joey everything is sunshine and rainbows.
That healthcare bit hit home. Been trying to get treatment for 9 months. Docs spent a lot of my money doing nothing. I got tired of trusting, read peer journals, put together my own plan using promising options, have the first actual sustained relief I've seen since last May.
$100 OTC versus like $6000 in tests, scans, and fuckery.
I guess it beats the NHS, partner can't even get seen for a fractured vertebrae. "Do PT first."
Because most Americans can’t afford to loose a week of pay?
Because it’s a zero-sum game and most Americans are losing so rich fucks can have their “good economy”.
Biden is so fucking out of touch it’s embarrassing.
it’s a zero-sum game and most Americans are losing so rich fucks can have their “good economy”.
That does seem to be what his rhetoric is pointing at:
“But for all we’ve done to bring prices down, there are still too many corporations in America ripping people off. Price gouging, junk feeds, greedflation, shrinkflation,” Biden added.
"bring prices down"? Does Biden think we're in a deflationary period or is he intentionally misleading people?
EDIT: It's weird how when people ask why prices haven't come down they're mocked for not understanding the difference between deflation and lower inflation. But when the president of the United States confuses them and I point it out I get down voted. Classy people. Classy.
It’s not allowed to discuss “bring wages up.” Only impossibilities of putting the genie back in the bottle such as this. That way Biden can continue to deliver on his most important promise to donors - nothing will fundamentally change.
The latter or both.
Polling suggests this is not the case. In December there was a poll of swing states that showed the people were split 50/50 on whether what they saw in their own lives, their local or city economy, was heading in the right direction but when asked about the national economy, something they have to rely upon the media for rather than their own experience, only 1 in 4 thought things were heading in the right direction. People are constantly fed negative economic propaganda but don't see it in their own communities so they assume it's happening everywhere else.
Polling is opinion, and they all have varied (and usually terrible) reasons for their opinions. But some telling statistics?
I get my credit score up through tricks of the trade, get whatever procedure I need on credit, and then don't pay at all, because I can't afford basic medical even though I work, for above minimum wage no less. They want too much for essential medical treatments, so now I have to do this to survive, I just hope that between every 2 years when my credit tricks work again, that I don't get mysteriously ill with no way to pay. I tried everything. I work 40 hours and live in a very basic tract home built in the 90s with roommates, I sell things on the side, my old man does repairs/handyman services, we don't shop, or go on dates, or get to enjoy life really at all outside the home, hell, I've even tried selling porn; but apparently I'm not hot enough to pull that off either. And to top off this absolutely lack of sundae; I work enough to not qualify for any assistance despite all the above details keeping me stuck renting/working a shit job until something breaks or I get sick or somebody dies. I know some of y'all are gonna hate me for this, but I didn't create this broken economy where $10-$30 a month for insurance is an unaffordable expense on top of copays and deductibles and all the BS to make sure you never use the service they've made you purchase... When is enough gonna be enough? Then our leaders have the balls to ask why we're upset? Give me a damn break.
You should be one of Biden's economic advisors.
Oh no, more negative propaganda! Better hide it before it shows up in the polls! 🙄
Does anyone under the age of 50 respond to polling calls/emails? Polls are shit for actual representation nowadays and are mainly used as a way to influence rather than gauge.
Yeah, but have you met anyone from Wisconsin?
Went to a wedding in Milwaukee last summer, it wasn't terrible. I wouldn't want to be there in the winter, I'm content to stay in California. I was on the college side, but it seemed like a slightly larger Redding/Chico area. A lot more brick, closer to a major city, and with more local national level sports teams. The locals seemed nice enough, I enjoyed the first generation immigrants running their cafes.
On the contrary, the fastest growth in real income right now is among those in the lowest quintile. Which means income inequality is actually decreasing for the first time in decades.
Maybe in a few decades people will feel better about it.
Well said! Very well said.
“Fastest growing in real income” sounds really fancy.
But it’s a bit misleading. I assume you’re looking at percentage gains. For someone working 40 hrs/week 42 weeks a year, a dollar raise (which is huge for that “lowest quintile”), would equate to a bit more than 2,000 per year.
At federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr, that dollar gain represents an increase of 13%. At 15 an hour, its a 6% gain. At 200k/year? Barely a percent. For Walmart CEO, for example, who’s salary is 24.1 million is barely even worth mentioning at .08%.
Said another way, Walmart has 2.2 million “associates” which iirc, is everyone whose not a manager. Let’s say 3 million people who aren’t corporate because I don’t care to go get the accurate stats and frankly want to keep the math easy.
So if they gave them all a 1 dollar raise, that would cost Walmart 3 million dollars. Last year, Walmarts annual gross profit was 147.568 billion, with a 2.65% increase over ‘22. An increase of 3.8 billion dollars.
You know the difference between a million and a billion? About a billion. That hypothetical dollar increase would have been a rounding error on their financial statements.
So if they gave them all a 1 dollar raise, that would cost Walmart 3 million dollars.
I think your numbers are off. It would cost $3m to give 3m workers a bump of exactly one dollar on exactly one paycheck. That's not a 13% increase. It's not even a 0.01% increase.
If you actually wanted to increase the wage of 3m full time workers from $7.25 to $8.25, it would cost $6 billion.
Walmarts annual gross profit was 147.568 billion
This isn't really relevant. Gross profit is Walmart sales minus what it paid manufacturers for its products. So if it buys a TV for $200 and sells it for $300, that's $100 in gross profit.
Gross profit is used to pay employees, rent, utilities, advertisers, etc. The amount left over after paying the bills is the operating income. Then they pay taxes on that, and the actual earnings (aka net income) are left over.
Nearly all of Walmart's gross profit was used to pay employees, etc. Their operating income was $23 billion in 2023, which is a decrease of 20% from the previous year. Of note, this coincides with pay increases for Walmart's hourly workers, from $17.50 to $18/hr on average.
Nearly all of Walmart's gross profit was used to pay employees, etc
That's a mountain sized "etc" covering mainly shareholder dividends and artificial profit minimizing for tax avoidance purposes.
The publicly reported profit margins are always AFTER those things and as such as informative about reality as having literally no information.
No, operating income does not take dividend payments into account.
The fact is that employee payroll/salaries is one of Walmart's biggest expenses by far, and gross profit does not include it. So you cannot use gross profit to argue that Walmart could afford to give its workers a raise.
It's the equivalent of looking only at someone's salary and then saying they should put more away for retirement. You are ignoring their expenses.
That just shows that the economy is not "booming" as they say in the capitalist media - the needle may be moving in the right direction, but we need to acknowledge that the current position of that needle is deep in the gutter, with a lot of improvement still needed before the voting public feels like the economy is actually working for them. Claiming that the economy is doing well, when the people are not doing well economically except for a handful of ultrawealthy, causes feelings of resentment and alienation in people who are currently working hard and still unable to afford basic necessities, ie the majority of Americans. It makes the journalists and the politicians they appear to be hyping seem out of touch and unaware of the problems the voters are dealing with, and therefore it does not inspire hope that those problems are being worked on.
Showing that the needle is moving in the right direction is an important component of effective messaging, but so is demonstrating a clear eyed view of the problem. Articles that talk about how 'strong' the economy is fail on the latter.
#1 Rent and housing - costs of housing are unsustainable
#2 Affordable transit - prices and sizes of cars are unsustainable
#3 All other cost of living - people buying groceries on emergency funds
Nearly all of this can be pointed at a number of big business cartel-like behavior: Air BNB, Price Fixing, Layoffs, Inexplicably high corporate profits, fraud and abusive behavior by individuals and businesses.
Fund the welfare state for god's sake.
#1 I am inclined to agree I just bought a crummy cottage because I couldn't afford rent
#2 I agree they are selling affordable EVs in China, but they are under tariffs, and nobody else is selling really affordable basic cars
#3 I kinda disagree.. Granted I really only shop at places like Aldi/Walmart because standard grocers are very pricey. Prices aren't all that bad overall.
Also I'm medically not doing well but I dont make enough money to qualify for financial help with health insurance
Wait until you read about how shitty our tax law is for people spending most of their money on HC costs. sigh
My wages did go up a little, but not enough to help me out of the hole I'm in with everything else going up (rent, groceries, etc.). Gas prices have gone down, but not by a lot, at least not for me in California. Why are prices still at like $4.30/gallon when we're pumping more than ever out of the ground and plenty of supply? Why didn't it go back down to like $3.50? Is this just our new baseline? Why?
Everything is like that. I feel like I'll just end up dying of poverty if we don't actually gain some consumer protections to limit how much companies to upcharge on literally everything, and ban companies or internationals from buying up properties. At this rate, I feel like I'll struggle this hard forever and never be able to buy a house unless I move somewhere super shitty without actual rights for women.
"The US economy" means "the flow of money for the rich minority of people" that's why. I work at least 50 hours a week and still can't make ends meet because my partner is severely underemployed by a corporation who won't schedule her enough hours for the amount of work she's expected to do, she doesn't have adequate health insurance, I'm watching it destroy her body before my fucking eyes exactly the same way her mother died before her and am stuck at my own shitty job figuring out what the fuck I'm gonna do about it if and the worst comes to pass.
Okay, I'm someone who has mostly benefitted here. I got a really well paying job, I snagged a house before the rates started getting too high, moving to an area with a lower cost of living (i.e. lower grocery prices). I'm fully aware that my experience is a lot better than many people who are still suffering from how bad prices have gotten.
The reason I'm upset is because of goddamn motherfucking privitization, and subsequent enshittification, of so many important things. There's been the recent pushes from the right to shutdown public services like libraries, encourage homeschooling or other "alternative education" away from our already insufficient public schooling, etc. We already know how awful things get when they're fully privatized, as in health insurance, prisons, and HOA's, but it feels like while democrats are making good policy decisions, they're completely ignoring this issue. So, the right keeps pulling things down, but the left is doing basically nothing to keep it afloat, let alone making things better.
TL;DR: "Health Insurance" companies can eat my ass
I’m in a similar spot as you. Doubled my income over the pandemic (though I got laid off in December), bought a house at 4.99%, and moved to a slightly lower cost of living city that’s still in range of Seattle.
I’m mad for all the same reasons.
Same, but I snagged a 3.125% right at the end of 2020, could not have been better timing. I got approved to move from the east coast back to my home town while keeping my current job (at the time), and was super lucky to find my house when I did. I also got laid off in March 2023, but thankfully rebounded quick and although my new job is also remote, it doesn't pay as much as I'm qualified for in experience.
But I'm also mad for the same reasons and also mad that my friends in similar fields have not been so lucky and are still struggling to even afford a house.
This is a very good synopsis. I, too, have an experience similar to yours, and while I don't feel it in my bank account, I see Republicans, Fundigelicals, and Conservatives being allowed to run amok and cause all kinds of localized damage. It does not feel good to know that businesses are currently getting away with greedflation, churches are getting away with tax fraud, and Conservatives are successfully robbing the government via fraudulent PPP loans and school vouchers.
The Biden Administration might have a general handle on the economy, but they still seem to be operating under the illusion that the above groups have some basic decency and decorum. And it's that "boys will be boys" attitude towards them that makes a lot of people worried about the future, in spite of economic improvements.
The focus on the economy is the problem. The average American cares about the cost of living and the quality of life. An economy that fails to deliver those is worthless to most of us.
I really wish we could get universal healthcare in this country. It is just insane I spend $5k on health insurance that I never use because I'm afraid a visit to the doctors is going to result in some stupid high bill that for some reason united healthcare will weasel their way out of paying.
Yo I am in the exact situation and mindset you are. I got really lucky in regards to jobs, buying a home, and living in a low cost area. I do have a ton of recent medical debt because I broke my ankle and leg and needed surgery to fix it. I was off of work for 3 months so shit sucked for a while. I'm paying back my debt with $5-$10 a month because they can't do jack shit if it looks like I'm attempting to pay. These fuckers don't deserve more than that.
IIRC about 2/3rds of americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That is not an economy that is working for the people.
We need dramatic overhauls that Biden, and especially Trump will never deliver. We need employee ownership of companies for starters.
Forget whoever is president, there’s a snowballs chance in hell that 99% of the house or Congress would ever let such legislature be heard, never mind actually be voted on.
Yeah, congress needs to be stacked with representatives that actually give a shit about protecting workers and democracy. And that's never going to happen with a 2 party system and legalize bribery ("lobbying").
And those things won't get fixed until people start giving a shit and voting accordingly, and/or we have massive protests.
The problem with voters is more our voting system. If you vote for anyone other than one of the two major parties, you’re all but throwing your vote away. The current system heavily discourages voting third party.
We would need election reform for that to change, and while we are getting closer to that state by state, I don’t think we will ever get enough states to sign on for the laws to kick in.
And these changes will never happen with our current system in place, so it’s a catch 22. Can’t change the system without reform, can’t reform with our current system.
Agreed.
We would need election reform for that to change, and while we are getting closer to that state by state, I don’t think we will ever get enough states to sign on for the laws to kick in.
I assume you're talking about the NPVIC. But yeah, we are getting marginally closer to reform each year. And public sentiment towards FPTP voting is changing, which is good. The only downside is that it is slow, and people seem more keen on rank choice instead of approval (IMO the best).
And these changes will never happen with our current system in place, so it’s a catch 22. Can’t change the system without reform, can’t reform with our current system.
Honestly that's the case with most problems in the U.S., it's just a bunch of catch 22s the whole way down, and the whole way up.
Yeah, the NPVIC is… I mean, let’s be honest here. It’s not great. It’s better than our current system, absolutely. But it’s far, far inferior than rank choice.
Yeah, the NPVIC is… I mean, let’s be honest here. It’s not great. It’s better than our current system, absolutely.
I don't think that's a starter. I think that's a grand paradigm shift that while it would no doubt be a great boon would not be easy or quick to implement.
Universal Healthcare, UBI, climate resolutions, voting reform, SNAP expansion, increases to minimum wage, etc. would be easier, quicker, and compound with the improvements of employee ownership. So I'd call those starters, even if they're not as effective.
I don’t think that’s a starter.
I wasn't being literal. There are a million things that need fixed, a few of them you've listed and I 100% agree with. The one I named was just one of them.
Because his economists aren't treating income & wealth disparity as indicators of economic health.
Because the US economy isn't doing well. The metrics that lead to that statement are wholly and completely disconnected from the American people who, except for a very, very select few, are not rich shareholders and really don't care how the S&P is doing if their pockets are constantly empty.
Rents are systematically high. Wages are systematically low. There is no end in sight. It's disconcerting that someone elected to represent me doesn't see that.
It's disconcerting that someone elected to represent me doesn't see that.
He's a wealthy career politician in his 80's I'd be surprised if he wasn't out of touch with the vast majority of the population. I certainly didn't vote for him in the Democratic primaries, but he's much better than the alternative.
I don't disagree that he's better than the alternative, but at a certain point, the government ceases to help anyone but its donors. We may be at that point.
"Wealthy career politician" is a group that does not really represent anyone, so ideally it shouldn't exist.
I don't disagree with you either, but I'm not sure what to do about it other than to continue to vote for people that I do think will represent me and then vote for the least shitty choice after none of those people make it past the primaries.
Yeah, that's the only option I think. Which is to say: we don't really have a democracy anymore.
“But for all we’ve done to bring prices down, there are still too many corporations in America ripping people off. Price gouging, junk feeds, greedflation, shrinkflation,” Biden added. “America – we’re tired of being played for suckers!”
The headline makes it sound like he doesn't know what's going on. It's rather that he is leveling an accusation and makes the media cover this. But even then this CNN article does it's best to not cover root causes.
Because the people running CNN are part of the root cause, and they'll be damned if their readers figure it out.
"Our friends at CNN are here... you guys love breaking news. And you did it. You broke it. Great work."
-Michelle Wolf (2018 White House Correspondents Dinner)
Doing well for who? His campaign donors? I'm still going to vote for him because the alternative is worse, but all this talk about how well the economy is supposedly doing seems horribly out of touch.
Edit: I really should read the article or at least pay more attention to what website the article is on.
Edit: I really should read the article or at least pay more attention to what website the article is on.
I can't access articles on CNN.com because they block me for blocking ads. I'm over here commenting as though I know what the content says but I bet I'm right in my assumption.
What an asshole headline. CNN has become FOX 2
It's literally their goal. The new CEO said as much.
There's a quote that I have to paraphrase because I can't find it again, but he basically said "Fox news is actually a wonderful model to emulate, they have actual news (I'm going to vomit) surrounded by opinion shows."
They want the same exact thing... To hide the journalism, and cater to the infotainment crowd that just want their confirmation bias drip... Now will it be catering to the right, the so-called center, or ...well not the left we know that much.
"Things are great and Biden is awesome. What's your problem?" — CNN
For a bit now it seems they are trying to cater a bit more to a wider audience, casting articles critical of current administration. Not that they should not criticize, but some articles have been as you said Fox2
They were literally bought out by fox news 2
Well, over the last four years I've only received a 3-4% annual raise. This means that, because of inflation, I've seen an effective pay cut of ~10%. Meanwhile the CEO of the company I work for just bought his third condo/apartment (or whatever) overlooking Manhattan's Central Park while full on doubling his take-home in 2022. That'd be a huge reason as to why I feel like shit Uncle Joe. Not like Trump and the Republicans would make things any better or do anything about it... they're more on the billionaire take than the Democrats only plus the GOP apparently is just openly talking about wanting to overthrow the government. I'll hold my nose once again to vote for a Democrat, but they've seriously got to pull their heads out of their asses.
When they said "wants to know" what they really mean is "want them to shut the fuck up about it so we can continue to fuck them harder next time!"
How many times have you job hopped in the last four years?
If he were to do something about corporations or hell even individuals owning multiple rental properties and essentially using software as a virtual oligopoly to systemically raise the cost of living maybe us normal people would notice. Or maybe do something about greedflation sucking every last dime from us.
I make 80% more than I did 20 years ago and I feel poorer now than I did then.
I make less than I did 20 years ago plus now I have three kids. I can barely afford to eat.
I was getting by paycheck-to-paycheck-ish at my last job, worked on some skills, learned some new things, and got a new job that pays a whole lot more. That was 3 years ago, and inflation has put me right back where I was. I heard all these things over the years about "climbing the ladder" but this feels more like trying to climb the down escalator. I'm putting in the work, and doing everything I'm supposed to do, but I'm not getting anywhere.
The jobs market is robust
Which is why every big corp is doing layoffs right now, with hire freezes, wage increase freezes, and shoddy layoff schemes designed to avoid having to pay unemployment.
Even ignoring all the insane foreign policy and fake as hell local policy that will never see the light of day much like the Obama administration, exactly what metric are these fools using to evaluate the economy?
Because if it's the Federal Reserve, then of course those banking moguls are having a hell of a time.
There's always layoffs going on to some extent, overall the labor market has been great though. Unemployment has been consistently low, something like 14 million new jobs have been added over the past few years. The tight labor market has been pushing up the median wage, which is exactly what you want to see. We're basically at full employment and people are finally starting to see real wage growth that beats inflation. The layoffs recently get disproportionate media coverage because of who they impact (and for political reasons) rather their overall economic significance.
"Jobs" might be the worst metric to look at overall. How many of those jobs are part-time? How many of those jobs include health insurance? How many of those jobs pay a living wage? How many people have to have two or more of those jobs out of necessity?
Hell, how many of those "jobs" are listings that companies never intend to fill? I've seen countless listings for high qualification jobs offering poverty wages with no benefits.
The way they calculate the unemployment number makes that metric even worse. If everyone looking for a job gave up the unemployment rate would fall to 0, because it only counts people who are looking for work.
The stock market is a measure of how much wealth has been taken from workers.
Because prices are still jacked up from inflation? Seems like they go up but never come back down?
Gee, ya think?
The article makes a misleading statement about inflation right off the bat. That it's at a three year low and that's a sign of good things.
But inflation doesn't work like that. This just means prices are increasing at a slower rate. Not that prices have gone down.
Also inflation is not a measure of the cost of living. CPI is ostensibly a measure of cost of living but it's not particularly good at that either
CPI is fine when it isn't manipulated to hell like the government does to make things seem better than they actually are.
Any of these sorts of metrics have at least some issues. There are always issues with weighting different variables and excluded data due to the complexity of what's being measured.
It was never a realistic expectation for prices to go back to what they were before COVID, but somehow that is what people expected.
You never want to see prices come down across the board because that causes deflation. Deflation can very easily spiral into a feedback loop of higher interest rates and higher unemployment.
Well, we were told the problem was supply chain issues, then that resolved and was supplanted by inflation.
The financial issues feel unrelenting at this point.
The supply chain issues directly led to inflation. That scarcity leads to a rise in prices is economics 101.
shareholders raking in more money
Prices are still ass for the average American expenses
"The economy is doing great why you feel bad?"
EDIT: This is actually the media screwing us over here, Biden actually touches on why, bad headline
How is the economy doing well when the majority of people are broke?
Politicians: Record economy!
Businesses: Welp, time for layoffs! We were always at war with Eurasia.
Citizens: Do I vote for the status quo, ear plugged, blindfolded, ancient politician... or do I vote for a literal dictator, dumb as bricks, ancient "politician." Hmmm... Options options.
Think of it this way:
You are on a sinking cruise ship with the rest of the country and are headed to one of two islands. Sadly, these are the only islands available, and you're going to land on one no matter what. Both of them are toxic wastelands, but one island is attempting to clean up (though, slowly and poorly) while the other island is fully leaning into the toxicity because the people controlling the island are safe in their bunkers. Everyone on the ship has an oar good for one stroke.
Do you give up and throw your oar in the water leaving everyone else to decide your fate?
Do you use your oar to paddle toward the island you want and call it good enough?
Do you try to get more people to paddle your direction?
We're all along for the ride regardless of how we feel about it and the options for destinations, at least we can try to influence the direction we're going.
I think it'd be wise to either take over the boat or jump ship at that point.
Look at it this way unless America has a massive come to Jesus moment culturally we will have an authoritarian in office in the next 8 years.
That authoritarian can be an out of shape dementia ridden thug likely to die in office OR we can get whatever ghoul the republicans conjure up to replace him...
I'm not one for accelerationism, but I'm becoming more convinced we need a controlled burn. If America can't defeat the fascist bullshit trump promises, then we will fall to any other half competent wannabe dictator...
It's doing well for people who drive a beater car, don't buy a new phone every year, avoid eating out, etc. People who have money invested are earning returns in this economy. Ya'll don't have 401k's or investments?
Because rent is $2000/month and most places require proof that you make 3 times that amount.
I've never met any motherfucker that makes $6k a month, Joe. Most of us are living paycheck to paycheck.
It's getting increasingly more difficult to give a shit about the social contract when people like Elon Musk have all the fucking money and the rest of us would starve if we got sick.
Fuck.
But the the rich people's yacht money economy is doing well!
I often read from random people who live in some tiny ass apartments in places like NYC or San Francisco or wherever and spend like 3000 dollars a month in rent. Hell i know a guy in Toronto who tells me about his shitty ass apartment with no heat that just raised rent 400 dollars or some shit and ge already paid 1400 to 1600. How do people live like that? Genuine question, i spend 1600 a month but for a whole house and garden. Which is nothing in comparison, but i wouldn't mind spending less just to have more.
I managed to get a house for a reasonable price and interest rate. Neither of those are the case anymore. So unless you can save up $100,000 for the 20% down payment on a $500,000 house, you've got to rent. And then you can't save because rent is so high, so you're stuck renting forever.
A 500k house is hardly even possible anymore here. I worked for a guy who build quite the bice house in a pretty damn expensive neighborhood. He told me he's able to afford it because the neighbouring piece of land is also his and he's gonna sell that. He pointed at a piece of land about the size of a soccer field. I said that's nice, that's a good chunk of the house i assume. Ge told me that the land is worth over 1 million dollars. No house nothing, just a piece of flat grass.
Houses in my neighborhood are still going for around $350,000 for a 45 year old 1500 sq foot, 3 bed, 1.5 bath. I was trying to adjust for an average but I forgot that $350,000 will buy you a dumpster with HOA fees in a lot of places.
I work in an adjacent industry to construction and I can tell you that even the $300k houses are so cheaply made that you would refuse to live in one of you saw them being built.
I've seen stucco being sprayed on exterior "walls" made of Styrofoam (polystyrene), and broken studs toenailed together before the drywall gets hung. That's not even mentioning the number of times I've seen human shit on the floor of the garage.
The number of times these building companies have been sued for breaking building laws would make your head spin. A company in Florida got sued by an entire subdivision because they poured the foundations on the water table and the first rainstorm flooded every house.
It's criminal how much these companies fleece from the American public.
These were built in 1979-81, so hopefully they're not as slapped together as new houses. But I've seen houses built since 2000 where every window is cracked because the wind bent the frames so much.
The next house I live in will be built with my strict supervision.
Because COVID let everyone see what live would be like without having to work shitty jobs, and Biden got everyone back to those shitty jobs. It is like that Greek myth of the person in hell that is surrounded by undrinkable water that gets a drip of water on his tongue as mercy, only to have that memory be even more tourturios.
You got to stop working? I just worked from home.
Some of us "essentials" pretended that nothing was going on at all and kept going to work because an actual shutdown of core parts of society would have been a total disaster. I'm totally for WFH situations where it makes sense, but some jobs require a physical presence even in a pandemic, otherwise the wheels stop for everyone.
I continued to work in fast food through the height of the pandemic. I was able to take a couple months off while I was between jobs, but food wasn't gonna buy itself.
Getting back to those shitty jobs was inevitable. COVID was destined to downgrade to endemic status, and business owners being stuck in the 80s mindset of "grind in a cubicle until you die" is not Biden's fault at all.
because my rent got raised over $1200 in the past two years
Jesus!!! I was bitching because mine went up 1000 over the last 10 years. Luckily my wife and were able to buy for what we were paying in rent. Hopefully nothing breaks though. 😕
Homeowner protip: everything will break
So true!
Not really had that experience personally.
I was annoyed mine went up $550 in the last 10 years even though it's a great price for the area still
Yep the joys of living in a 'high COL' area
I managed to not get a raise on rent because my landlord forgot that he's raising the prices. Last year he told me that he's raising the price. But when he sent me the invoice for this year, it's still last year's amount. Well, I'm not going to be the one who reminds him.
hell yeah never tell him
Let's see this fucker live on minimum wage and try to afford an apartment.
I mean, dude currently lives in public housing, what more do you want? (I kid)
Ohhhh I'd love to see any president spend a month in some of the run down slum lord apartments I've been in.
Leaders should have suffered more to understand the plight of their constituents. Though I suspect a lotta those rich old men simply don't have the constitution to survive a normal life.
I mean come on, he only owns like three houses or something and one isn't even worth a million. He is clearly suffering.
Real wages have been growing in the past year, especially for those in the lowest quintile. In fact, there are almost no adults making the federal minimum wage any more.
Dude. Rents are skyrocketing, grocery prices are insane, everything is wildly more expensive and wage growth isn't keeping up for a lot of people. This kinda "well look at the data" thing that the Democrats constantly do is not helpful. They always fail to account for some part of reality and it shows just how disconnected these rich fucks are from the common person.
So many people are living paycheck to paycheck and that is disastrous for a country without socialized medicine and with the incredible costs of retirement. Homeownership and freedom from vampire landlords isn't a possibility for a vast majority of people and many are paying a significant portion of their take home just to keep a roof over their heads and the lights on.
They have no clue what it's like to walk a day in a normal person's shoes.
No doubt many people are suffering. But wages for the lowest quintile have been outpacing inflation for the past year. Which means that overall, most of those in the lowest quintile are better off now than they were a year ago. Of course, doing better is not the same as doing well.
most of those in the lowest quintile are better off now than they were a year ago
Yes, and on average each human has roughly 0.98 testicles.
The goal of public policy is to benefit the public as a whole. So the average will always be a more useful metric than the experience of an individual, or even a hundred individuals.
By that logic, Medicare for All would only cover less than one testicle
Except testicle coverage is a policy, not a valid metric. A valid metric is the outcome of a policy, like average deaths from testicular cancer.
Yes, and if we simply remove the excess testicles from those who have them, we could halve testicular cancer rates.
That wouldn't work unless the only metric you cared about was deaths from testicular cancer.
This is as detached from actual people's lives as the DNC's messaging
They were still in a horrible situation a year ago, so they’re better off but still bad.
Meanwhile the CoL has only gotten worse year on year, every year.
This isn't new. The cost of living always goes up. It's supposed to. Because when it goes down, you are in a recession and probably about to lose your job.
Half joking response- but wouldn’t the survivorship bias mean those who were surviving only on minimum wage alone didn’t survive for very long?
I think you're on to something, but in reality people will quit a job that doesn't provide enough to live on. In other words, the job is the one that doesn't survive, not the worker.
So you might expect a rise in unemployment, but in fact we are seeing low unemployment. This suggests that employers respond to vacant minimum wage jobs by increasing the wage. And in fact there are plenty of well-known employers (e.g. Wal-Mart) where nobody works for minimum wage any more.
people will quit a job that doesn’t provide enough to live on
Or they'll get a second job. Or a third job. Or start doing gig work.
Especially if the job provides them with health insurance.
Either way, they aren't working any minimum wage jobs.
Okay but they're still living off ramen and putting off medical treatment and hoping their car doesn't blow up
The solution to all those problems involves increasing real wages. Which is what has happened for the last year, especially for the lowest quintile.
I'm sure that will make the ramen taste better.
Increasing real wages is always better than decreasing real wages. Which is what was happening before Biden.
Yeah, if only people looked at the statistics and ignored the rumbling in their stomachs. Public policy folks have it so hard.
For most people, the rumbling was even worse before Biden. That's the part you try so hard to ignore.
I’m also not sure how relevant my experience is to this whole thing since my work experience is 100% contract work in a specialized field instead of salaried or employer scheduled. From my perspective everything is becoming gig work, but that might not be the case. I think it’s hard to budget for groceries getting more expensive if one year I make 85k and the year after, I make 25k. Employers just don’t seem to have as much money to spend on advertising as they used to, so finding work is hard unless you take less than what you’re used to taking.
All my peers seem to be having issues with finances nowadays unless their parents are helping them out or have a partner making quite a bit as well. Combine that with businesses forcing the end of work from home means we have to move back to expensive cities. It’s looking pretty bleak even from my pretty privileged vantage point.
One thing to keep in mind is that you may not be in the bottom quintile. And if you're not, then you may have a very different view of the economy.
Income inequality is decreasing right now, but many people don't understand that this necessarily involves some zero-sum adjustments. You cannot reduce inequality if everyone grows at the same rate, something must be transferred from the upper X% to the lower X%. And if you're in the upper X%, then the economy might feel worse to you than it really is.
I’d be interested to see a source on if income inequality is decreasing because I haven’t seen any articles about that tbh. In fact, since 2020 when I last looked at graphs on it, it’s seemed like the gap is just getting wider and wider every year.
And if I was told things would get harder for me and other people in my bracket to make it easier for people making less than me, I’d be fine with it, but I’m not seeing an indication that that is what’s happening. But to be honest, so long as I’m seeing record profits for corporations and billionaires continuing to breathe, I’ll continue to think income inequality is continuing to get worse regardless of a study that states the contrary.
Reduction in income inequality started under Biden, after 2020
But there’s some pretty good news that doesn’t readily appear in the steady stream of government data released each week. After decades in which the gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew by leaps and bounds, the strange rebound from the pandemic has led to something different: a slow reduction in inequality across the economy. Incomes of people in the bottom half of income distribution grew by 4.5% in the last calendar year, much faster than the 1.2% average income growth of all Americans
Looking at the Realtime Inequality source, I think the picture is a bit less rosy than the article gives it, if I’m reading the graphs correctly. It looks like the bottom 50% were absolutely financially destroyed during 2020 (as was everyone else) and measures have been taken to place them relatively close to where they were before the pandemic. But the upper class not only didn’t fall as hard as the bottom 50%, but they recovered to a higher level than they were previous.
To me, this seems like “the income inequality train is slowing down” rather than “the income inequality train is going in reverse”. That being said, I’m a dummy when it comes to economics, so I might not know how to read this correctly.
Note that the y-axis is income growth. Staying at zero means "no change". So it's more accurate to say that before late 2021 the bottom 90% stagnated (or slightly lost income) while the upper 10% grew, seemingly oblivious to hardship.
After late 2021, the income of the bottom 50% grew faster than the top 50% (or top 10%). That is exactly what is meant by "inequality is finally decreasing", because the only way for two extremes to get closer together is for the bottom extreme to grow faster than the top extreme.
Faster growth among the highest incomes is a longstanding feature in our economy, and this differential growth means that income inequality has almost always been increasing. Faster growth among the lowest incomes, ie any period of decreasing inequality, is practically unheard of in recent American history.
I do think it’s possible to make statistics claim anything you want if you categorize the positions you’re comparing in a way that supports what you want to claim. All I know is people generally don’t feel like they’re doing better economically whether it’s the honest fact or not. And if I’m having issues with groceries, those who make less than me must be struggling more.
If feelings are more important than statistics, then government should make less effort to reduce inequality and more effort to get people to feel good about the status quo. In other words, do what the GOP does when they are in power.
Well. It's almost like wages haven't kept up with inflation for decades and this last sprint broke something. Just because we're not seeing 20% food price inflation now does not mean the prices magically dropped. They're still high, and wages still aren't enough to make up that difference.
A good job market is great news because you need 3 jobs just to have a place to live.
Boom! Prices only go up, deflation is rare and of small consequence. So now what? Inflation's under control, and still dropping I believe, but as you said, WAGES.
OTOH, wages seem to have gone way up around here in the last 5-years. $15 was unthinkable for unskilled labor in 2019 (locally!), now it's close to the bottom of what one can expect. 2 people making $15 could just about make it in this town, except...
Housing is straight fucked. Between immigration, legal and illegal, the "inhouse" birthrate, corporations buying up housing and the AirBNB type owners, we can't handle this. Hell, in my lower-middleclass hood, we got lots of housing going up! And half of the units are duplexes, forever rentals. (Weirdly enough, they're very nice, but still.) For some reason, many of those projects suddenly stalled, started and stopped before the foundations were laid.
We need a new New Deal.
It's not working for the middle class. It's working for another class.
Let’s see… how much do I pay for in Health insurance each month? How much do houses cost now? How much am I paying in taxes?
Taxes arent the problem.
sure they are. the administration (all of them) are using our tax dollars for things that do not benefit us. they benefit the administration.
Well more specifically, it's who the taxes are coming from and what they are being used on that's (part of) the problem.
Because the wealth gap still grows.
It’s not rocket science Joe.
Hmm , in 2020 the interest rates for buying a house was around 3.1%, now it's around 6.8%. When we're pricing people out of the ability to afford housing (interest rates going up affects rent prices too, who knew) people will be rather upset... especially given that they see little to no benefit from this "good economy" given the layoffs in certain sectors, the gas prices being over 9000, and not one, but two wars abroad where at least one of the parties in each is perfectly fine targeting civilians.
But hey, at least Google and Amazon are raking in the profits, I guess.
Okay but did you read that the economy is doing good? Try reading it again.
Couldn't get to the market to get my copy, gas is about $57554.66 a gallon.
At least three wars abroad where at least one side is targeting civilians :(
Yeah, at this point I'm losing track. Gotta love how the "good guys" stand idle and let people get slaughtered.
My spending on groceries has almost doubled. I went from being ok to barely making it. It's great.
Fun times. /s
‘We got it back to the same as it ever was. Why are you upset?’. smh
It's at least a start, that he's asking questions to try and figure it out, isn't it?
Too bad he doesn't speak poor
Out of the three candidates left, though, he has the best shot of figuring it out.
I'm worried that Poor has drifted from when Joe first spoke it. Is he aware we don't call people "Jack" anymore?
It’s theatre.
You think this fucker doesn’t have access to every economist and social worker to answer this for him? And what, not one of the people he’s asked has been able to give him the answer when he’s asked them?
The only way he cannot know, is that he chooses not to know.
Maybe the economists don't have the answer, because they are government employees with some security in their employment....
"it's a start" dude has been in office for four years. That's pathetic.
Economy isn't everything. People need more like believing in the future, a sense of community, etc. A lot of things incompatible with neoliberalism that the dems embraced in the 80s.
This push them in the arms of the extrem right. Don't take me wrong. Extrem right isn't better, it's worse. But they are the last untried thing and extrem right as a rhetoric that hide the reality.
The dems have to change in deep to address the real issues like inequality, housing, belonging to a group, etc. It's placing the human in the center.
The far right only seems untried to people who are utterly ignorant of history. Of which there are evidently a great many.
“$1 in 2018 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1.22 today, an increase of $0.22 over 6 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.38% per year between 2018 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 22.10%.”- in2013dollars.com
Most of us didn’t get 22% raises over the pandemic and rent, electricity, and grocery prices went up, Joe
Disinflation is different than deflation. Prices aren’t changing, that’s good. Prices changed to be bad and aren’t changing, that’s bad.
Now, while I don’t think we want deflation amok, because that’s insanely bad for everyone, what I think we can all agree with is wages need to go up or there needs to be some price control the likes this country hasn’t seen before.
That’s the problem with the economy. This new normal isn’t comfortable. While we’re finally solidifying what this new normally is and volatility is going down, what we’re settling on isn’t good. And pretending that eventually wages will come to match, that’s not realistic. Playing the waiting game is going to wreck a lot of jobs.
Deflation is only bad because companies hold their employees (and customers) hostage to their profit ideal.
The main thing that's always touted as the main bad thing about deflation is that people are less inclined to spend money.
I don't know about you, but most of my money goes to essentials that I'm not going to just stop paying for. The only people that are going to stop spending money are the precious few with large disposable incomes.
The Economy is doing well...for the rich.
It's not doing well for everyone else, you old baffoon.
I don't know, Joe, maybe it's just that the world we've made here just fundamentally isn't worth participating in? or even living in, for that matter. #beammeupscotty
Nothing will fundamentally change?
So why do i know so many people that don't have enough?
I didn't used to
The US economy is doing well for rich people.
FTFY
What a senile old pos classist fuckface.
Shit like this is why Trump is going to win. Enjoy the peace while it lasts
Peace? Have you looked around?
Peace compared to open genocide and civil war I mean
Who's starting a civil war?
The Trumptards
But if Trump wins won't the Trumptards not need a civil war?
You underestimate their viciousness and genocidal bigotry
Whatever current have in comparison to what we WILL have is peace.
Because we've had about 90 years of decline in the power of labor, and everyone knows they're being exploited all the time and there's no way to get ahead if you don't already have money.
President feigns ignorance of basic domestic economics to appear sympathetic going into an election cycle
"Your corporate masters are happy, why aren't you slaves smiling?"
Well, I don't know. What a mystery!?
Some companies raised prices and made greedy money. And those companies don't want to lower the prices back.
Shameful.
Funny how out of touch, these questions are from the out of touch.
Greedflation, but he has already commented on being concerned about it.
What part of 6% mortgage and 9% auto loans screams "great economy" again?
I mean neither of those is a problem, the problem is that prices aren't adjusting to match.
But housing won't go down because it's become an investment, and cars won't go down because during covid manufacturers learned only selling expensive models increases profit margins.
If anything, high rates are good. They encourage saving and curb consumerism, which are both things Americans at large can use help with.
Housing has always been an investment hasn't it? I guess you are talking about companies buying homes. I feel like that shouldn't be allowed.
Tesla prices are plummeting though, so I suspect car prices will fall all over now.
Tesla is getting hit hard and fast. I watch car news and it's still mostly manufacturers announcing new model years that are significantly more expensive than before.
Housing really became an investment in the late 80s to 90s, that's part of what drove the McMansion boom. Not for corporations but individuals, who are actually the largest driver of prices not adjusting. Don't get me wrong, corporations are buying an increasingly large chuck and this will be a problem, but right now it's not the big one. In my area there are an absurd number of houses for sale compared to normal. All of them are overpriced, almost none of them are selling, and yet they increase the list price every month like clockwork. These are individuals, not corporations. Until these individuals accept that the house they bought for $50k isn't worth $1.5m, prices will not go down.
This doesn't matter and it's actually a good thing rates are going back up. Rates are still lower than they have been. The real issue is greed and pretending like it's inflation. Rent has gone up. Food prices have gone up. People are constantly laid off and there is no job stability. Employers now have the upper hand. All of this and wages have not increased.
Reaganomics is garbage and doesn't work. Taxes on the rich are at an all time low. The economy is doing well, but the wealth is not being distributed in the way that it should.
This is the same as when Trump says the economy is great, its just great for stockholders. Biden knows this, hell half the people he's speaking to know this but will believe him anways. It's okay though, next time a republican is elected they'll go back to remembering that 'the economy' is just code for rich peoples investments. But not a moment before then, because they're utterly terrified of critisizing Democrats.
I dunno. I don't really think they're connecting it. All of the messaging I'm seeing is around "hey. We did a great thing. Why aren't more people cheering us on?"
Biden has just started to go after food gouging, but hasn't really done anything about companies like Black Rock buying up all the housing and jacking up the rental and real estate markets.
But who knows. It's messaging from the white house, so it may or may not be misguided.
Thank you for your time.
The economy isn't measured based on the stock market. The closest factor might be GDP, but that isn't the only number that is used anyways.
By basically all metrics, the US economy is moving in the right direction. Its just in a really big pit on some of them.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
That disconnect looms large over Biden’s political prospects, with White House advisers and campaign officials acknowledging that how Americans feel about the economy could be decisive in determining whether the president can win a second term in November.
But one senior adviser to the president told CNN the one thing they have not offered Biden is a prediction for when the American public’s psychology about the economy will have meaningfully improved.
There is also a delicate balancing act for the president to execute: Touting economic progress while being publicly sympathetic to the reality that many Americans still feel burdened by high prices, including on rent, housing and food.
To that end, Biden has started testing out lines that point the finger at some corporations that he says are taking advantage of the fact that prices were at record highs for so long.
And as Biden addressed culinary union workers at a hotel cafeteria in Las Vegas on Monday morning, he pointed to a classic American candy bar to gripe about shrinkflation.
A recent New York Times op-ed by the chief economist of UBS Global Wealth Management that used the price of Snickers bars to examine why so many Americans are still unhappy – despite falling inflation – had caught the president’s eye.
The original article contains 858 words, the summary contains 212 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
You can never be critical enough on the party that supposed to represent the people doesn't do a fucking thing to help. Fascism vs. indignation. What a fucking country we live in.
The reporting on the economy is very much in line with the sentiment "The surgery was a success. Unfortunately, the patient perished." Different metrics matter to different people. Food prices climbed faster than gas or housing, so inflation feels high (we have to make different choices to afford to eat), but it's not actually as high as it feels.
The employment rate (yes, that one, not the unemployment rate) is still not great, and lots of companies in the tech sector are tightening their belts to try to deliver on the sky high expectations they've been selling. The whole thing looks hollow.
That article seems like utter bullshit designed to make Biden seem out of touch. There’s no proof, it’s all hearsay about him supposedly seeking questions from his advisors. What is CNN’s angle here?
Mandate WFH for companies that have proven they can do it especially for those of us who would rather die than be in a room full of people.
During the orange stinker's rule eight out of ten were living pay check to pay check. Under Biden six out of ten say they are living pay check to pay check. It's math
Aside from economic issues, I dislike him because he won't declare the GOP a Clear And Present Danger and obvious terrorist threat because he has republican friends and he wants to reach across the aisle and work together with the opposition party in a bipartisan spirit of aloha because we're Americans and at the end of the day that's all the really matters
Does that mean that you'll vote for Donald Trump or not vote and help Donald Trump that way?
It means that just like last time there were five presidential candidates on my ballot and I will choose the one that best reflects my philosophies.
So, helping Donald Trump it is then.
Edit: Not trying to be an ass, but that's just the reality of the winner-take-all system in the US.
Not trying to be an ass either, but the one time I voted for the two majors my guy won and he governed exactly like the guy I voted against.
If trymp is elected, that's not on me; that's on the fucking Dems who refused to codify Roe, elevated him in 2016, and refuse to arrest him for the obvious traitor and criminal he is. Also, for letting MxConnell block SCOTUS nominations and derail an impeachent trial.
Nothing is on me. No blood on my hands. We have trump because Dems wanted him
Nah, I'm sorry, but that's just not how it works. Dems needed 60 votes in the Senate to avoid the filibuster. Sinema and Manchin wanted to keep the filibuster. So it stayed and Roe is gone because of the SCOTUS Trump installed.
Having Biden in office has made an enormous difference over having Trump. Just saying.
Manchin and Sinema are the argument against BNMW
i think in part because our best hope for change for the next 4 years, as dictated purely by the DNC and the man himself, is 90, is doing genocide, and let abortion get taken away under his watch!
Everything in economics comes at its cycle. The economy improves, hiring picks up, and if jobs exceed workers by enough, eventually, wages go up. Even then, it takes a while for workers to feel confident.
Corporations generally will put more hiring and wage raises off as long as possible.
This cycle is not in sync through the country. Hot areas will have to respond faster. Cooler area may not respond at all. Red states are generally in cooler regions. Austerity does not promote growth.
Maybe it’s that the “US economy” and it’s metrics are severely detached from the American people. Unless we’re still on this corporations are people too bullshit
So very much all of this. Just because corpo America, the 1% and the
fake numbersstock market are doing good means nothing for the average American.Our wages are stagnate. Our healthcare either kills you or bankrupts you. Our housing is prohibitively expensive. Our food is to expensive to eat. Our education system doesn't educate and is slowly privatizing. And our police are killing us in lieu of protecting us.
But we've got guns for tot's, piles of dead school children, an insurrectionist running for president, insurrectionists in congress facing zero consequences, a fading separation of church and state. Rising hate crime numbers. And a corrupt Supreme Court openly accepting bribes to destroy democracy.
Yeah Joey everything is sunshine and rainbows.
That healthcare bit hit home. Been trying to get treatment for 9 months. Docs spent a lot of my money doing nothing. I got tired of trusting, read peer journals, put together my own plan using promising options, have the first actual sustained relief I've seen since last May.
$100 OTC versus like $6000 in tests, scans, and fuckery.
I guess it beats the NHS, partner can't even get seen for a fractured vertebrae. "Do PT first."
*too
Economy Good: The majority of people work their asses off to make a handful even richer.
Economy Bad: The majority of people suffer even more so the handful of people does not have to suffer a bit.
Maybe is Maybeline
Or
Maybe is that the wealthiest 10% of Americans own 89% of all U.S. stocks
Because most Americans can’t afford to loose a week of pay?
Because it’s a zero-sum game and most Americans are losing so rich fucks can have their “good economy”.
Biden is so fucking out of touch it’s embarrassing.
That does seem to be what his rhetoric is pointing at:
"bring prices down"? Does Biden think we're in a deflationary period or is he intentionally misleading people?
EDIT: It's weird how when people ask why prices haven't come down they're mocked for not understanding the difference between deflation and lower inflation. But when the president of the United States confuses them and I point it out I get down voted. Classy people. Classy.
It’s not allowed to discuss “bring wages up.” Only impossibilities of putting the genie back in the bottle such as this. That way Biden can continue to deliver on his most important promise to donors - nothing will fundamentally change.
The latter or both.
Polling suggests this is not the case. In December there was a poll of swing states that showed the people were split 50/50 on whether what they saw in their own lives, their local or city economy, was heading in the right direction but when asked about the national economy, something they have to rely upon the media for rather than their own experience, only 1 in 4 thought things were heading in the right direction. People are constantly fed negative economic propaganda but don't see it in their own communities so they assume it's happening everywhere else.
Polling is opinion, and they all have varied (and usually terrible) reasons for their opinions. But some telling statistics?
nearly half of Americans have little to no savings , while 89% of Americans save, the average savings is ~1000, and 60% don’t have a retirement account
60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
About 50% of people under 65 have trouble affording healthcare- with insurance
All while corporations are netting record profits despite all this.
I get my credit score up through tricks of the trade, get whatever procedure I need on credit, and then don't pay at all, because I can't afford basic medical even though I work, for above minimum wage no less. They want too much for essential medical treatments, so now I have to do this to survive, I just hope that between every 2 years when my credit tricks work again, that I don't get mysteriously ill with no way to pay. I tried everything. I work 40 hours and live in a very basic tract home built in the 90s with roommates, I sell things on the side, my old man does repairs/handyman services, we don't shop, or go on dates, or get to enjoy life really at all outside the home, hell, I've even tried selling porn; but apparently I'm not hot enough to pull that off either. And to top off this absolutely lack of sundae; I work enough to not qualify for any assistance despite all the above details keeping me stuck renting/working a shit job until something breaks or I get sick or somebody dies. I know some of y'all are gonna hate me for this, but I didn't create this broken economy where $10-$30 a month for insurance is an unaffordable expense on top of copays and deductibles and all the BS to make sure you never use the service they've made you purchase... When is enough gonna be enough? Then our leaders have the balls to ask why we're upset? Give me a damn break.
You should be one of Biden's economic advisors.
Oh no, more negative propaganda! Better hide it before it shows up in the polls! 🙄
Does anyone under the age of 50 respond to polling calls/emails? Polls are shit for actual representation nowadays and are mainly used as a way to influence rather than gauge.
Yeah, but have you met anyone from Wisconsin?
Went to a wedding in Milwaukee last summer, it wasn't terrible. I wouldn't want to be there in the winter, I'm content to stay in California. I was on the college side, but it seemed like a slightly larger Redding/Chico area. A lot more brick, closer to a major city, and with more local national level sports teams. The locals seemed nice enough, I enjoyed the first generation immigrants running their cafes.
On the contrary, the fastest growth in real income right now is among those in the lowest quintile. Which means income inequality is actually decreasing for the first time in decades.
Maybe in a few decades people will feel better about it.
Well said! Very well said.
“Fastest growing in real income” sounds really fancy.
But it’s a bit misleading. I assume you’re looking at percentage gains. For someone working 40 hrs/week 42 weeks a year, a dollar raise (which is huge for that “lowest quintile”), would equate to a bit more than 2,000 per year.
At federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr, that dollar gain represents an increase of 13%. At 15 an hour, its a 6% gain. At 200k/year? Barely a percent. For Walmart CEO, for example, who’s salary is 24.1 million is barely even worth mentioning at .08%.
Said another way, Walmart has 2.2 million “associates” which iirc, is everyone whose not a manager. Let’s say 3 million people who aren’t corporate because I don’t care to go get the accurate stats and frankly want to keep the math easy.
So if they gave them all a 1 dollar raise, that would cost Walmart 3 million dollars. Last year, Walmarts annual gross profit was 147.568 billion, with a 2.65% increase over ‘22. An increase of 3.8 billion dollars.
You know the difference between a million and a billion? About a billion. That hypothetical dollar increase would have been a rounding error on their financial statements.
I think your numbers are off. It would cost $3m to give 3m workers a bump of exactly one dollar on exactly one paycheck. That's not a 13% increase. It's not even a 0.01% increase.
If you actually wanted to increase the wage of 3m full time workers from $7.25 to $8.25, it would cost $6 billion.
This isn't really relevant. Gross profit is Walmart sales minus what it paid manufacturers for its products. So if it buys a TV for $200 and sells it for $300, that's $100 in gross profit.
Gross profit is used to pay employees, rent, utilities, advertisers, etc. The amount left over after paying the bills is the operating income. Then they pay taxes on that, and the actual earnings (aka net income) are left over.
Nearly all of Walmart's gross profit was used to pay employees, etc. Their operating income was $23 billion in 2023, which is a decrease of 20% from the previous year. Of note, this coincides with pay increases for Walmart's hourly workers, from $17.50 to $18/hr on average.
That's a mountain sized "etc" covering mainly shareholder dividends and artificial profit minimizing for tax avoidance purposes.
The publicly reported profit margins are always AFTER those things and as such as informative about reality as having literally no information.
No, operating income does not take dividend payments into account.
The fact is that employee payroll/salaries is one of Walmart's biggest expenses by far, and gross profit does not include it. So you cannot use gross profit to argue that Walmart could afford to give its workers a raise.
It's the equivalent of looking only at someone's salary and then saying they should put more away for retirement. You are ignoring their expenses.
That just shows that the economy is not "booming" as they say in the capitalist media - the needle may be moving in the right direction, but we need to acknowledge that the current position of that needle is deep in the gutter, with a lot of improvement still needed before the voting public feels like the economy is actually working for them. Claiming that the economy is doing well, when the people are not doing well economically except for a handful of ultrawealthy, causes feelings of resentment and alienation in people who are currently working hard and still unable to afford basic necessities, ie the majority of Americans. It makes the journalists and the politicians they appear to be hyping seem out of touch and unaware of the problems the voters are dealing with, and therefore it does not inspire hope that those problems are being worked on.
Showing that the needle is moving in the right direction is an important component of effective messaging, but so is demonstrating a clear eyed view of the problem. Articles that talk about how 'strong' the economy is fail on the latter.
#1 Rent and housing - costs of housing are unsustainable
#2 Affordable transit - prices and sizes of cars are unsustainable
#3 All other cost of living - people buying groceries on emergency funds
Nearly all of this can be pointed at a number of big business cartel-like behavior: Air BNB, Price Fixing, Layoffs, Inexplicably high corporate profits, fraud and abusive behavior by individuals and businesses.
Fund the welfare state for god's sake.
#1 I am inclined to agree I just bought a crummy cottage because I couldn't afford rent
#2 I agree they are selling affordable EVs in China, but they are under tariffs, and nobody else is selling really affordable basic cars
#3 I kinda disagree.. Granted I really only shop at places like Aldi/Walmart because standard grocers are very pricey. Prices aren't all that bad overall.
prices went up, my wages didnt.
Also I'm medically not doing well but I dont make enough money to qualify for financial help with health insurance
Wait until you read about how shitty our tax law is for people spending most of their money on HC costs. sigh
My wages did go up a little, but not enough to help me out of the hole I'm in with everything else going up (rent, groceries, etc.). Gas prices have gone down, but not by a lot, at least not for me in California. Why are prices still at like $4.30/gallon when we're pumping more than ever out of the ground and plenty of supply? Why didn't it go back down to like $3.50? Is this just our new baseline? Why?
Everything is like that. I feel like I'll just end up dying of poverty if we don't actually gain some consumer protections to limit how much companies to upcharge on literally everything, and ban companies or internationals from buying up properties. At this rate, I feel like I'll struggle this hard forever and never be able to buy a house unless I move somewhere super shitty without actual rights for women.
"The US economy" means "the flow of money for the rich minority of people" that's why. I work at least 50 hours a week and still can't make ends meet because my partner is severely underemployed by a corporation who won't schedule her enough hours for the amount of work she's expected to do, she doesn't have adequate health insurance, I'm watching it destroy her body before my fucking eyes exactly the same way her mother died before her and am stuck at my own shitty job figuring out what the fuck I'm gonna do about it if and the worst comes to pass.
Fuck this economy, burn it to the ground
One of the richest countries on Earth. SMH
Smell that freedom! Smells like medical bills...
The land of the fee
Okay, I'm someone who has mostly benefitted here. I got a really well paying job, I snagged a house before the rates started getting too high, moving to an area with a lower cost of living (i.e. lower grocery prices). I'm fully aware that my experience is a lot better than many people who are still suffering from how bad prices have gotten.
The reason I'm upset is because of goddamn motherfucking privitization, and subsequent enshittification, of so many important things. There's been the recent pushes from the right to shutdown public services like libraries, encourage homeschooling or other "alternative education" away from our already insufficient public schooling, etc. We already know how awful things get when they're fully privatized, as in health insurance, prisons, and HOA's, but it feels like while democrats are making good policy decisions, they're completely ignoring this issue. So, the right keeps pulling things down, but the left is doing basically nothing to keep it afloat, let alone making things better.
TL;DR: "Health Insurance" companies can eat my ass
I’m in a similar spot as you. Doubled my income over the pandemic (though I got laid off in December), bought a house at 4.99%, and moved to a slightly lower cost of living city that’s still in range of Seattle.
I’m mad for all the same reasons.
Same, but I snagged a 3.125% right at the end of 2020, could not have been better timing. I got approved to move from the east coast back to my home town while keeping my current job (at the time), and was super lucky to find my house when I did. I also got laid off in March 2023, but thankfully rebounded quick and although my new job is also remote, it doesn't pay as much as I'm qualified for in experience.
But I'm also mad for the same reasons and also mad that my friends in similar fields have not been so lucky and are still struggling to even afford a house.
This is a very good synopsis. I, too, have an experience similar to yours, and while I don't feel it in my bank account, I see Republicans, Fundigelicals, and Conservatives being allowed to run amok and cause all kinds of localized damage. It does not feel good to know that businesses are currently getting away with greedflation, churches are getting away with tax fraud, and Conservatives are successfully robbing the government via fraudulent PPP loans and school vouchers.
The Biden Administration might have a general handle on the economy, but they still seem to be operating under the illusion that the above groups have some basic decency and decorum. And it's that "boys will be boys" attitude towards them that makes a lot of people worried about the future, in spite of economic improvements.
The focus on the economy is the problem. The average American cares about the cost of living and the quality of life. An economy that fails to deliver those is worthless to most of us.
I really wish we could get universal healthcare in this country. It is just insane I spend $5k on health insurance that I never use because I'm afraid a visit to the doctors is going to result in some stupid high bill that for some reason united healthcare will weasel their way out of paying.
Yo I am in the exact situation and mindset you are. I got really lucky in regards to jobs, buying a home, and living in a low cost area. I do have a ton of recent medical debt because I broke my ankle and leg and needed surgery to fix it. I was off of work for 3 months so shit sucked for a while. I'm paying back my debt with $5-$10 a month because they can't do jack shit if it looks like I'm attempting to pay. These fuckers don't deserve more than that.
IIRC about 2/3rds of americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That is not an economy that is working for the people.
We need dramatic overhauls that Biden, and especially Trump will never deliver. We need employee ownership of companies for starters.
Forget whoever is president, there’s a snowballs chance in hell that 99% of the house or Congress would ever let such legislature be heard, never mind actually be voted on.
Yeah, congress needs to be stacked with representatives that actually give a shit about protecting workers and democracy. And that's never going to happen with a 2 party system and legalize bribery ("lobbying").
And those things won't get fixed until people start giving a shit and voting accordingly, and/or we have massive protests.
The problem with voters is more our voting system. If you vote for anyone other than one of the two major parties, you’re all but throwing your vote away. The current system heavily discourages voting third party.
We would need election reform for that to change, and while we are getting closer to that state by state, I don’t think we will ever get enough states to sign on for the laws to kick in.
And these changes will never happen with our current system in place, so it’s a catch 22. Can’t change the system without reform, can’t reform with our current system.
Agreed.
I assume you're talking about the NPVIC. But yeah, we are getting marginally closer to reform each year. And public sentiment towards FPTP voting is changing, which is good. The only downside is that it is slow, and people seem more keen on rank choice instead of approval (IMO the best).
Honestly that's the case with most problems in the U.S., it's just a bunch of catch 22s the whole way down, and the whole way up.
Yeah, the NPVIC is… I mean, let’s be honest here. It’s not great. It’s better than our current system, absolutely. But it’s far, far inferior than rank choice.
Agreed.
I'd say it goes like
Approval >>> Ranked >>>>>>>>>>>>> FPTP (popular vote) >>> FPTP (electoral college)
I don't think that's a starter. I think that's a grand paradigm shift that while it would no doubt be a great boon would not be easy or quick to implement.
Universal Healthcare, UBI, climate resolutions, voting reform, SNAP expansion, increases to minimum wage, etc. would be easier, quicker, and compound with the improvements of employee ownership. So I'd call those starters, even if they're not as effective.
I wasn't being literal. There are a million things that need fixed, a few of them you've listed and I 100% agree with. The one I named was just one of them.
Because his economists aren't treating income & wealth disparity as indicators of economic health.
Because the US economy isn't doing well. The metrics that lead to that statement are wholly and completely disconnected from the American people who, except for a very, very select few, are not rich shareholders and really don't care how the S&P is doing if their pockets are constantly empty.
Rents are systematically high. Wages are systematically low. There is no end in sight. It's disconcerting that someone elected to represent me doesn't see that.
He's a wealthy career politician in his 80's I'd be surprised if he wasn't out of touch with the vast majority of the population. I certainly didn't vote for him in the Democratic primaries, but he's much better than the alternative.
I don't disagree that he's better than the alternative, but at a certain point, the government ceases to help anyone but its donors. We may be at that point.
"Wealthy career politician" is a group that does not really represent anyone, so ideally it shouldn't exist.
I don't disagree with you either, but I'm not sure what to do about it other than to continue to vote for people that I do think will represent me and then vote for the least shitty choice after none of those people make it past the primaries.
Yeah, that's the only option I think. Which is to say: we don't really have a democracy anymore.
But HE'S BEEN IN WASHINGTON SINCE NINETEEN SEVENTY FUCKING FOUR.
He has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA who he respresents.
Bernie isn't out of touch. We tried.
Unfortunately in my eyes he is the only good option. It really sucks, but that is the world were living in
The headline makes it sound like he doesn't know what's going on. It's rather that he is leveling an accusation and makes the media cover this. But even then this CNN article does it's best to not cover root causes.
Because the people running CNN are part of the root cause, and they'll be damned if their readers figure it out.
"Our friends at CNN are here... you guys love breaking news. And you did it. You broke it. Great work." -Michelle Wolf (2018 White House Correspondents Dinner)
Doing well for who? His campaign donors? I'm still going to vote for him because the alternative is worse, but all this talk about how well the economy is supposedly doing seems horribly out of touch.
Edit: I really should read the article or at least pay more attention to what website the article is on.
I can't access articles on CNN.com because they block me for blocking ads. I'm over here commenting as though I know what the content says but I bet I'm right in my assumption.
What an asshole headline. CNN has become FOX 2
It's literally their goal. The new CEO said as much.
There's a quote that I have to paraphrase because I can't find it again, but he basically said "Fox news is actually a wonderful model to emulate, they have actual news (I'm going to vomit) surrounded by opinion shows."
They want the same exact thing... To hide the journalism, and cater to the infotainment crowd that just want their confirmation bias drip... Now will it be catering to the right, the so-called center, or ...well not the left we know that much.
"Things are great and Biden is awesome. What's your problem?" — CNN
For a bit now it seems they are trying to cater a bit more to a wider audience, casting articles critical of current administration. Not that they should not criticize, but some articles have been as you said Fox2
They were literally bought out by fox news 2
Well, over the last four years I've only received a 3-4% annual raise. This means that, because of inflation, I've seen an effective pay cut of ~10%. Meanwhile the CEO of the company I work for just bought his third condo/apartment (or whatever) overlooking Manhattan's Central Park while full on doubling his take-home in 2022. That'd be a huge reason as to why I feel like shit Uncle Joe. Not like Trump and the Republicans would make things any better or do anything about it... they're more on the billionaire take than the Democrats only plus the GOP apparently is just openly talking about wanting to overthrow the government. I'll hold my nose once again to vote for a Democrat, but they've seriously got to pull their heads out of their asses.
When they said "wants to know" what they really mean is "want them to shut the fuck up about it so we can continue to fuck them harder next time!"
How many times have you job hopped in the last four years?
If he were to do something about corporations or hell even individuals owning multiple rental properties and essentially using software as a virtual oligopoly to systemically raise the cost of living maybe us normal people would notice. Or maybe do something about greedflation sucking every last dime from us.
I make 80% more than I did 20 years ago and I feel poorer now than I did then.
I make less than I did 20 years ago plus now I have three kids. I can barely afford to eat.
I was getting by paycheck-to-paycheck-ish at my last job, worked on some skills, learned some new things, and got a new job that pays a whole lot more. That was 3 years ago, and inflation has put me right back where I was. I heard all these things over the years about "climbing the ladder" but this feels more like trying to climb the down escalator. I'm putting in the work, and doing everything I'm supposed to do, but I'm not getting anywhere.
Which is why every big corp is doing layoffs right now, with hire freezes, wage increase freezes, and shoddy layoff schemes designed to avoid having to pay unemployment.
Even ignoring all the insane foreign policy and fake as hell local policy that will never see the light of day much like the Obama administration, exactly what metric are these fools using to evaluate the economy?
Because if it's the Federal Reserve, then of course those banking moguls are having a hell of a time.
There's always layoffs going on to some extent, overall the labor market has been great though. Unemployment has been consistently low, something like 14 million new jobs have been added over the past few years. The tight labor market has been pushing up the median wage, which is exactly what you want to see. We're basically at full employment and people are finally starting to see real wage growth that beats inflation. The layoffs recently get disproportionate media coverage because of who they impact (and for political reasons) rather their overall economic significance.
"Jobs" might be the worst metric to look at overall. How many of those jobs are part-time? How many of those jobs include health insurance? How many of those jobs pay a living wage? How many people have to have two or more of those jobs out of necessity?
Hell, how many of those "jobs" are listings that companies never intend to fill? I've seen countless listings for high qualification jobs offering poverty wages with no benefits.
The way they calculate the unemployment number makes that metric even worse. If everyone looking for a job gave up the unemployment rate would fall to 0, because it only counts people who are looking for work.
The stock market is a measure of how much wealth has been taken from workers.
Because prices are still jacked up from inflation? Seems like they go up but never come back down?
Gee, ya think?
The article makes a misleading statement about inflation right off the bat. That it's at a three year low and that's a sign of good things.
But inflation doesn't work like that. This just means prices are increasing at a slower rate. Not that prices have gone down.
Also inflation is not a measure of the cost of living. CPI is ostensibly a measure of cost of living but it's not particularly good at that either
CPI is fine when it isn't manipulated to hell like the government does to make things seem better than they actually are.
Any of these sorts of metrics have at least some issues. There are always issues with weighting different variables and excluded data due to the complexity of what's being measured.
It was never a realistic expectation for prices to go back to what they were before COVID, but somehow that is what people expected.
You never want to see prices come down across the board because that causes deflation. Deflation can very easily spiral into a feedback loop of higher interest rates and higher unemployment.
Well, we were told the problem was supply chain issues, then that resolved and was supplanted by inflation.
The financial issues feel unrelenting at this point.
The supply chain issues directly led to inflation. That scarcity leads to a rise in prices is economics 101.
EDIT: This is actually the media screwing us over here, Biden actually touches on why, bad headline
How is the economy doing well when the majority of people are broke?
Politicians: Record economy!
Businesses: Welp, time for layoffs! We were always at war with Eurasia.
Citizens: Do I vote for the status quo, ear plugged, blindfolded, ancient politician... or do I vote for a literal dictator, dumb as bricks, ancient "politician." Hmmm... Options options.
Think of it this way:
You are on a sinking cruise ship with the rest of the country and are headed to one of two islands. Sadly, these are the only islands available, and you're going to land on one no matter what. Both of them are toxic wastelands, but one island is attempting to clean up (though, slowly and poorly) while the other island is fully leaning into the toxicity because the people controlling the island are safe in their bunkers. Everyone on the ship has an oar good for one stroke.
Do you give up and throw your oar in the water leaving everyone else to decide your fate? Do you use your oar to paddle toward the island you want and call it good enough? Do you try to get more people to paddle your direction?
We're all along for the ride regardless of how we feel about it and the options for destinations, at least we can try to influence the direction we're going.
I think it'd be wise to either take over the boat or jump ship at that point.
Look at it this way unless America has a massive come to Jesus moment culturally we will have an authoritarian in office in the next 8 years.
That authoritarian can be an out of shape dementia ridden thug likely to die in office OR we can get whatever ghoul the republicans conjure up to replace him...
I'm not one for accelerationism, but I'm becoming more convinced we need a controlled burn. If America can't defeat the fascist bullshit trump promises, then we will fall to any other half competent wannabe dictator...
It's doing well for people who drive a beater car, don't buy a new phone every year, avoid eating out, etc. People who have money invested are earning returns in this economy. Ya'll don't have 401k's or investments?
Because rent is $2000/month and most places require proof that you make 3 times that amount.
I've never met any motherfucker that makes $6k a month, Joe. Most of us are living paycheck to paycheck.
It's getting increasingly more difficult to give a shit about the social contract when people like Elon Musk have all the fucking money and the rest of us would starve if we got sick.
Fuck.
But the
the rich people's yacht moneyeconomy is doing well!I often read from random people who live in some tiny ass apartments in places like NYC or San Francisco or wherever and spend like 3000 dollars a month in rent. Hell i know a guy in Toronto who tells me about his shitty ass apartment with no heat that just raised rent 400 dollars or some shit and ge already paid 1400 to 1600. How do people live like that? Genuine question, i spend 1600 a month but for a whole house and garden. Which is nothing in comparison, but i wouldn't mind spending less just to have more.
I managed to get a house for a reasonable price and interest rate. Neither of those are the case anymore. So unless you can save up $100,000 for the 20% down payment on a $500,000 house, you've got to rent. And then you can't save because rent is so high, so you're stuck renting forever.
A 500k house is hardly even possible anymore here. I worked for a guy who build quite the bice house in a pretty damn expensive neighborhood. He told me he's able to afford it because the neighbouring piece of land is also his and he's gonna sell that. He pointed at a piece of land about the size of a soccer field. I said that's nice, that's a good chunk of the house i assume. Ge told me that the land is worth over 1 million dollars. No house nothing, just a piece of flat grass.
Houses in my neighborhood are still going for around $350,000 for a 45 year old 1500 sq foot, 3 bed, 1.5 bath. I was trying to adjust for an average but I forgot that $350,000 will buy you a dumpster with HOA fees in a lot of places.
I work in an adjacent industry to construction and I can tell you that even the $300k houses are so cheaply made that you would refuse to live in one of you saw them being built.
I've seen stucco being sprayed on exterior "walls" made of Styrofoam (polystyrene), and broken studs toenailed together before the drywall gets hung. That's not even mentioning the number of times I've seen human shit on the floor of the garage.
The number of times these building companies have been sued for breaking building laws would make your head spin. A company in Florida got sued by an entire subdivision because they poured the foundations on the water table and the first rainstorm flooded every house.
It's criminal how much these companies fleece from the American public.
These were built in 1979-81, so hopefully they're not as slapped together as new houses. But I've seen houses built since 2000 where every window is cracked because the wind bent the frames so much.
The next house I live in will be built with my strict supervision.
Because COVID let everyone see what live would be like without having to work shitty jobs, and Biden got everyone back to those shitty jobs. It is like that Greek myth of the person in hell that is surrounded by undrinkable water that gets a drip of water on his tongue as mercy, only to have that memory be even more tourturios.
You got to stop working? I just worked from home.
Some of us "essentials" pretended that nothing was going on at all and kept going to work because an actual shutdown of core parts of society would have been a total disaster. I'm totally for WFH situations where it makes sense, but some jobs require a physical presence even in a pandemic, otherwise the wheels stop for everyone.
I continued to work in fast food through the height of the pandemic. I was able to take a couple months off while I was between jobs, but food wasn't gonna buy itself.
Getting back to those shitty jobs was inevitable. COVID was destined to downgrade to endemic status, and business owners being stuck in the 80s mindset of "grind in a cubicle until you die" is not Biden's fault at all.
because my rent got raised over $1200 in the past two years
Jesus!!! I was bitching because mine went up 1000 over the last 10 years. Luckily my wife and were able to buy for what we were paying in rent. Hopefully nothing breaks though. 😕
Homeowner protip: everything will break
So true!
Not really had that experience personally.
I was annoyed mine went up $550 in the last 10 years even though it's a great price for the area still
Yep the joys of living in a 'high COL' area
I managed to not get a raise on rent because my landlord forgot that he's raising the prices. Last year he told me that he's raising the price. But when he sent me the invoice for this year, it's still last year's amount. Well, I'm not going to be the one who reminds him.
hell yeah never tell him
Let's see this fucker live on minimum wage and try to afford an apartment.
I mean, dude currently lives in public housing, what more do you want? (I kid)
Ohhhh I'd love to see any president spend a month in some of the run down slum lord apartments I've been in.
Leaders should have suffered more to understand the plight of their constituents. Though I suspect a lotta those rich old men simply don't have the constitution to survive a normal life.
I mean come on, he only owns like three houses or something and one isn't even worth a million. He is clearly suffering.
Real wages have been growing in the past year, especially for those in the lowest quintile. In fact, there are almost no adults making the federal minimum wage any more.
Dude. Rents are skyrocketing, grocery prices are insane, everything is wildly more expensive and wage growth isn't keeping up for a lot of people. This kinda "well look at the data" thing that the Democrats constantly do is not helpful. They always fail to account for some part of reality and it shows just how disconnected these rich fucks are from the common person.
So many people are living paycheck to paycheck and that is disastrous for a country without socialized medicine and with the incredible costs of retirement. Homeownership and freedom from vampire landlords isn't a possibility for a vast majority of people and many are paying a significant portion of their take home just to keep a roof over their heads and the lights on.
They have no clue what it's like to walk a day in a normal person's shoes.
No doubt many people are suffering. But wages for the lowest quintile have been outpacing inflation for the past year. Which means that overall, most of those in the lowest quintile are better off now than they were a year ago. Of course, doing better is not the same as doing well.
Yes, and on average each human has roughly 0.98 testicles.
The goal of public policy is to benefit the public as a whole. So the average will always be a more useful metric than the experience of an individual, or even a hundred individuals.
By that logic, Medicare for All would only cover less than one testicle
Except testicle coverage is a policy, not a valid metric. A valid metric is the outcome of a policy, like average deaths from testicular cancer.
Yes, and if we simply remove the excess testicles from those who have them, we could halve testicular cancer rates.
That wouldn't work unless the only metric you cared about was deaths from testicular cancer.
This is as detached from actual people's lives as the DNC's messaging
They were still in a horrible situation a year ago, so they’re better off but still bad.
Meanwhile the CoL has only gotten worse year on year, every year.
This isn't new. The cost of living always goes up. It's supposed to. Because when it goes down, you are in a recession and probably about to lose your job.
Half joking response- but wouldn’t the survivorship bias mean those who were surviving only on minimum wage alone didn’t survive for very long?
I think you're on to something, but in reality people will quit a job that doesn't provide enough to live on. In other words, the job is the one that doesn't survive, not the worker.
So you might expect a rise in unemployment, but in fact we are seeing low unemployment. This suggests that employers respond to vacant minimum wage jobs by increasing the wage. And in fact there are plenty of well-known employers (e.g. Wal-Mart) where nobody works for minimum wage any more.
Or they'll get a second job. Or a third job. Or start doing gig work.
Especially if the job provides them with health insurance.
Either way, they aren't working any minimum wage jobs.
Okay but they're still living off ramen and putting off medical treatment and hoping their car doesn't blow up
The solution to all those problems involves increasing real wages. Which is what has happened for the last year, especially for the lowest quintile.
I'm sure that will make the ramen taste better.
Increasing real wages is always better than decreasing real wages. Which is what was happening before Biden.
Yeah, if only people looked at the statistics and ignored the rumbling in their stomachs. Public policy folks have it so hard.
For most people, the rumbling was even worse before Biden. That's the part you try so hard to ignore.
I’m also not sure how relevant my experience is to this whole thing since my work experience is 100% contract work in a specialized field instead of salaried or employer scheduled. From my perspective everything is becoming gig work, but that might not be the case. I think it’s hard to budget for groceries getting more expensive if one year I make 85k and the year after, I make 25k. Employers just don’t seem to have as much money to spend on advertising as they used to, so finding work is hard unless you take less than what you’re used to taking.
All my peers seem to be having issues with finances nowadays unless their parents are helping them out or have a partner making quite a bit as well. Combine that with businesses forcing the end of work from home means we have to move back to expensive cities. It’s looking pretty bleak even from my pretty privileged vantage point.
One thing to keep in mind is that you may not be in the bottom quintile. And if you're not, then you may have a very different view of the economy.
Income inequality is decreasing right now, but many people don't understand that this necessarily involves some zero-sum adjustments. You cannot reduce inequality if everyone grows at the same rate, something must be transferred from the upper X% to the lower X%. And if you're in the upper X%, then the economy might feel worse to you than it really is.
I’d be interested to see a source on if income inequality is decreasing because I haven’t seen any articles about that tbh. In fact, since 2020 when I last looked at graphs on it, it’s seemed like the gap is just getting wider and wider every year.
And if I was told things would get harder for me and other people in my bracket to make it easier for people making less than me, I’d be fine with it, but I’m not seeing an indication that that is what’s happening. But to be honest, so long as I’m seeing record profits for corporations and billionaires continuing to breathe, I’ll continue to think income inequality is continuing to get worse regardless of a study that states the contrary.
Reduction in income inequality started under Biden, after 2020
Looking at the Realtime Inequality source, I think the picture is a bit less rosy than the article gives it, if I’m reading the graphs correctly. It looks like the bottom 50% were absolutely financially destroyed during 2020 (as was everyone else) and measures have been taken to place them relatively close to where they were before the pandemic. But the upper class not only didn’t fall as hard as the bottom 50%, but they recovered to a higher level than they were previous.
To me, this seems like “the income inequality train is slowing down” rather than “the income inequality train is going in reverse”. That being said, I’m a dummy when it comes to economics, so I might not know how to read this correctly.
Note that the y-axis is income growth. Staying at zero means "no change". So it's more accurate to say that before late 2021 the bottom 90% stagnated (or slightly lost income) while the upper 10% grew, seemingly oblivious to hardship.
After late 2021, the income of the bottom 50% grew faster than the top 50% (or top 10%). That is exactly what is meant by "inequality is finally decreasing", because the only way for two extremes to get closer together is for the bottom extreme to grow faster than the top extreme.
Faster growth among the highest incomes is a longstanding feature in our economy, and this differential growth means that income inequality has almost always been increasing. Faster growth among the lowest incomes, ie any period of decreasing inequality, is practically unheard of in recent American history.
I do think it’s possible to make statistics claim anything you want if you categorize the positions you’re comparing in a way that supports what you want to claim. All I know is people generally don’t feel like they’re doing better economically whether it’s the honest fact or not. And if I’m having issues with groceries, those who make less than me must be struggling more.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-income-inequality-rose-3-years-through-2022-fed-data-shows-2023-10-18/
If feelings are more important than statistics, then government should make less effort to reduce inequality and more effort to get people to feel good about the status quo. In other words, do what the GOP does when they are in power.
Well. It's almost like wages haven't kept up with inflation for decades and this last sprint broke something. Just because we're not seeing 20% food price inflation now does not mean the prices magically dropped. They're still high, and wages still aren't enough to make up that difference.
A good job market is great news because you need 3 jobs just to have a place to live.
Boom! Prices only go up, deflation is rare and of small consequence. So now what? Inflation's under control, and still dropping I believe, but as you said, WAGES.
OTOH, wages seem to have gone way up around here in the last 5-years. $15 was unthinkable for unskilled labor in 2019 (locally!), now it's close to the bottom of what one can expect. 2 people making $15 could just about make it in this town, except...
Housing is straight fucked. Between immigration, legal and illegal, the "inhouse" birthrate, corporations buying up housing and the AirBNB type owners, we can't handle this. Hell, in my lower-middleclass hood, we got lots of housing going up! And half of the units are duplexes, forever rentals. (Weirdly enough, they're very nice, but still.) For some reason, many of those projects suddenly stalled, started and stopped before the foundations were laid.
We need a new New Deal.
It's not working for the middle class. It's working for another class.
Let’s see… how much do I pay for in Health insurance each month? How much do houses cost now? How much am I paying in taxes?
Taxes arent the problem.
sure they are. the administration (all of them) are using our tax dollars for things that do not benefit us. they benefit the administration.
Well more specifically, it's who the taxes are coming from and what they are being used on that's (part of) the problem.
Because the wealth gap still grows.
It’s not rocket science Joe.
Hmm , in 2020 the interest rates for buying a house was around 3.1%, now it's around 6.8%. When we're pricing people out of the ability to afford housing (interest rates going up affects rent prices too, who knew) people will be rather upset... especially given that they see little to no benefit from this "good economy" given the layoffs in certain sectors, the gas prices being over 9000, and not one, but two wars abroad where at least one of the parties in each is perfectly fine targeting civilians.
But hey, at least Google and Amazon are raking in the profits, I guess.
Okay but did you read that the economy is doing good? Try reading it again.
Couldn't get to the market to get my copy, gas is about $57554.66 a gallon.
At least three wars abroad where at least one side is targeting civilians :(
Yeah, at this point I'm losing track. Gotta love how the "good guys" stand idle and let people get slaughtered.
My spending on groceries has almost doubled. I went from being ok to barely making it. It's great.
Fun times. /s
‘We got it back to the same as it ever was. Why are you upset?’. smh
It's at least a start, that he's asking questions to try and figure it out, isn't it?
Too bad he doesn't speak poor
Out of the three candidates left, though, he has the best shot of figuring it out.
I'm worried that Poor has drifted from when Joe first spoke it. Is he aware we don't call people "Jack" anymore?
It’s theatre.
You think this fucker doesn’t have access to every economist and social worker to answer this for him? And what, not one of the people he’s asked has been able to give him the answer when he’s asked them?
The only way he cannot know, is that he chooses not to know.
Maybe the economists don't have the answer, because they are government employees with some security in their employment....
"it's a start" dude has been in office for four years. That's pathetic.
Economy isn't everything. People need more like believing in the future, a sense of community, etc. A lot of things incompatible with neoliberalism that the dems embraced in the 80s.
This push them in the arms of the extrem right. Don't take me wrong. Extrem right isn't better, it's worse. But they are the last untried thing and extrem right as a rhetoric that hide the reality.
The dems have to change in deep to address the real issues like inequality, housing, belonging to a group, etc. It's placing the human in the center.
The far right only seems untried to people who are utterly ignorant of history. Of which there are evidently a great many.
“$1 in 2018 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1.22 today, an increase of $0.22 over 6 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.38% per year between 2018 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 22.10%.”- in2013dollars.com
Most of us didn’t get 22% raises over the pandemic and rent, electricity, and grocery prices went up, Joe
Disinflation is different than deflation. Prices aren’t changing, that’s good. Prices changed to be bad and aren’t changing, that’s bad.
Now, while I don’t think we want deflation amok, because that’s insanely bad for everyone, what I think we can all agree with is wages need to go up or there needs to be some price control the likes this country hasn’t seen before.
That’s the problem with the economy. This new normal isn’t comfortable. While we’re finally solidifying what this new normally is and volatility is going down, what we’re settling on isn’t good. And pretending that eventually wages will come to match, that’s not realistic. Playing the waiting game is going to wreck a lot of jobs.
Deflation is only bad because companies hold their employees (and customers) hostage to their profit ideal.
The main thing that's always touted as the main bad thing about deflation is that people are less inclined to spend money.
I don't know about you, but most of my money goes to essentials that I'm not going to just stop paying for. The only people that are going to stop spending money are the precious few with large disposable incomes.
The Economy is doing well...for the rich.
It's not doing well for everyone else, you old baffoon.
I don't know, Joe, maybe it's just that the world we've made here just fundamentally isn't worth participating in? or even living in, for that matter. #beammeupscotty
Nothing will fundamentally change?
So why do i know so many people that don't have enough? I didn't used to
The US economy is doing well for rich people.
FTFY
What a senile old pos classist fuckface.
Shit like this is why Trump is going to win. Enjoy the peace while it lasts
Peace? Have you looked around?
Peace compared to open genocide and civil war I mean
Who's starting a civil war?
The Trumptards
But if Trump wins won't the Trumptards not need a civil war?
You underestimate their viciousness and genocidal bigotry
Whatever current have in comparison to what we WILL have is peace.
Because we've had about 90 years of decline in the power of labor, and everyone knows they're being exploited all the time and there's no way to get ahead if you don't already have money.
President feigns ignorance of basic domestic economics to appear sympathetic going into an election cycle
"Your corporate masters are happy, why aren't you slaves smiling?"
Well, I don't know. What a mystery!?
Some companies raised prices and made greedy money. And those companies don't want to lower the prices back.
Shameful.
Funny how out of touch, these questions are from the out of touch.
Greedflation, but he has already commented on being concerned about it.
What part of 6% mortgage and 9% auto loans screams "great economy" again?
I mean neither of those is a problem, the problem is that prices aren't adjusting to match.
But housing won't go down because it's become an investment, and cars won't go down because during covid manufacturers learned only selling expensive models increases profit margins.
If anything, high rates are good. They encourage saving and curb consumerism, which are both things Americans at large can use help with.
Housing has always been an investment hasn't it? I guess you are talking about companies buying homes. I feel like that shouldn't be allowed.
Tesla prices are plummeting though, so I suspect car prices will fall all over now.
Tesla is getting hit hard and fast. I watch car news and it's still mostly manufacturers announcing new model years that are significantly more expensive than before.
Housing really became an investment in the late 80s to 90s, that's part of what drove the McMansion boom. Not for corporations but individuals, who are actually the largest driver of prices not adjusting. Don't get me wrong, corporations are buying an increasingly large chuck and this will be a problem, but right now it's not the big one. In my area there are an absurd number of houses for sale compared to normal. All of them are overpriced, almost none of them are selling, and yet they increase the list price every month like clockwork. These are individuals, not corporations. Until these individuals accept that the house they bought for $50k isn't worth $1.5m, prices will not go down.
This doesn't matter and it's actually a good thing rates are going back up. Rates are still lower than they have been. The real issue is greed and pretending like it's inflation. Rent has gone up. Food prices have gone up. People are constantly laid off and there is no job stability. Employers now have the upper hand. All of this and wages have not increased.
Reaganomics is garbage and doesn't work. Taxes on the rich are at an all time low. The economy is doing well, but the wealth is not being distributed in the way that it should.
This is the same as when Trump says the economy is great, its just great for stockholders. Biden knows this, hell half the people he's speaking to know this but will believe him anways. It's okay though, next time a republican is elected they'll go back to remembering that 'the economy' is just code for rich peoples investments. But not a moment before then, because they're utterly terrified of critisizing Democrats.
I dunno. I don't really think they're connecting it. All of the messaging I'm seeing is around "hey. We did a great thing. Why aren't more people cheering us on?"
Biden has just started to go after food gouging, but hasn't really done anything about companies like Black Rock buying up all the housing and jacking up the rental and real estate markets.
But who knows. It's messaging from the white house, so it may or may not be misguided.
Thank you for your time.
The economy isn't measured based on the stock market. The closest factor might be GDP, but that isn't the only number that is used anyways.
By basically all metrics, the US economy is moving in the right direction. Its just in a really big pit on some of them.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
That disconnect looms large over Biden’s political prospects, with White House advisers and campaign officials acknowledging that how Americans feel about the economy could be decisive in determining whether the president can win a second term in November.
But one senior adviser to the president told CNN the one thing they have not offered Biden is a prediction for when the American public’s psychology about the economy will have meaningfully improved.
There is also a delicate balancing act for the president to execute: Touting economic progress while being publicly sympathetic to the reality that many Americans still feel burdened by high prices, including on rent, housing and food.
To that end, Biden has started testing out lines that point the finger at some corporations that he says are taking advantage of the fact that prices were at record highs for so long.
And as Biden addressed culinary union workers at a hotel cafeteria in Las Vegas on Monday morning, he pointed to a classic American candy bar to gripe about shrinkflation.
A recent New York Times op-ed by the chief economist of UBS Global Wealth Management that used the price of Snickers bars to examine why so many Americans are still unhappy – despite falling inflation – had caught the president’s eye.
The original article contains 858 words, the summary contains 212 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
You can never be critical enough on the party that supposed to represent the people doesn't do a fucking thing to help. Fascism vs. indignation. What a fucking country we live in.
The reporting on the economy is very much in line with the sentiment "The surgery was a success. Unfortunately, the patient perished." Different metrics matter to different people. Food prices climbed faster than gas or housing, so inflation feels high (we have to make different choices to afford to eat), but it's not actually as high as it feels.
The employment rate (yes, that one, not the unemployment rate) is still not great, and lots of companies in the tech sector are tightening their belts to try to deliver on the sky high expectations they've been selling. The whole thing looks hollow.
That article seems like utter bullshit designed to make Biden seem out of touch. There’s no proof, it’s all hearsay about him supposedly seeking questions from his advisors. What is CNN’s angle here?
@return2ozma That's not my economy.
Mandate WFH for companies that have proven they can do it especially for those of us who would rather die than be in a room full of people.
During the orange stinker's rule eight out of ten were living pay check to pay check. Under Biden six out of ten say they are living pay check to pay check. It's math
Aside from economic issues, I dislike him because he won't declare the GOP a Clear And Present Danger and obvious terrorist threat because he has republican friends and he wants to reach across the aisle and work together with the opposition party in a bipartisan spirit of aloha because we're Americans and at the end of the day that's all the really matters
Does that mean that you'll vote for Donald Trump or not vote and help Donald Trump that way?
It means that just like last time there were five presidential candidates on my ballot and I will choose the one that best reflects my philosophies.
So, helping Donald Trump it is then.
Edit: Not trying to be an ass, but that's just the reality of the winner-take-all system in the US.
Not trying to be an ass either, but the one time I voted for the two majors my guy won and he governed exactly like the guy I voted against.
If trymp is elected, that's not on me; that's on the fucking Dems who refused to codify Roe, elevated him in 2016, and refuse to arrest him for the obvious traitor and criminal he is. Also, for letting MxConnell block SCOTUS nominations and derail an impeachent trial.
Nothing is on me. No blood on my hands. We have trump because Dems wanted him
Nah, I'm sorry, but that's just not how it works. Dems needed 60 votes in the Senate to avoid the filibuster. Sinema and Manchin wanted to keep the filibuster. So it stayed and Roe is gone because of the SCOTUS Trump installed.
Having Biden in office has made an enormous difference over having Trump. Just saying.
Manchin and Sinema are the argument against BNMW
i think in part because our best hope for change for the next 4 years, as dictated purely by the DNC and the man himself, is 90, is doing genocide, and let abortion get taken away under his watch!
Everything in economics comes at its cycle. The economy improves, hiring picks up, and if jobs exceed workers by enough, eventually, wages go up. Even then, it takes a while for workers to feel confident. Corporations generally will put more hiring and wage raises off as long as possible.
This cycle is not in sync through the country. Hot areas will have to respond faster. Cooler area may not respond at all. Red states are generally in cooler regions. Austerity does not promote growth.
It’s called a mirror.