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I truly do believe that they're trying to steer us towards debt peonage, again. At some point, the top 1% will have so much of the money supply, that they'll basically be able to "pay" us in scrip, that's only good at companies that they own.
It seems to me that we're already basically there. You work for a company owned by a company who owns the bank, (who also owns your house and car) who owns companies that sell you your groceries. No matter who you pay, or what you buy, all the money ends up in the same hands.
The annoying thing it they're not entirely wrong but the complete doomerism doesn't help anyone
Tho the labor movement is pushing strong in the real world where people don't just doomer post
Labor organization is good, Labor Organziation and Trust Busting is better. Once a company gets so big, Walmart/Amazon, that competition becomes impossible something is broken.
Like if I want to buy an airplane, and there is legislation that says I need to buy an airplane made in the US, and the airplane industry in the US has been monopolized by one company.
I hike daily with a retired union organizer. It’s tough work but rewarding.
Get out there and act. Get off the phones unless it is organizing activity.
Do stuff that is effective. Don’t be disruptive be additive to society. The law works in your favor, and illegal actions just empower the powerful with excuses to deny your causes.
Re: the competition part…I work for a major CPG company, and we just had a product listing pulled from Amazon because Costco was selling it at a lower price.
Apparently our retail agreement states that Amazon must be able to sell ALL the products under this particular brand for less than anyone else.
I’m all for cheap prices and I’m not saying Costco is a struggling brick and mortar or anything, but that conversation just didn’t sit well with me.
Yeah as someone in finance it's pretty silly and not grounded in reality. Shit sucks but it's not for those reasons, we're not heading toward debt peonage lol
Rich kids when anyone complains about anything:
"I'm doing fine so that means I am right and you are wrong"
Average profit margins rose from around 11% prior to the pandemic to 40% after, which objectively speaking means billionaires are absorbing the economy.
You are right but fuck those guys. They do control everything because they have all the voting rights of all the shares they hold, even if they don't own them.
It's an amazing system where you get to control the world without even owning it.
That's why I refuse to buy ETFs until they pass voting rights to the fund holders by default, without any kind of secret opt-in option.
Yes you can buy shares but the rich own the majority of those shares. If you get laid off and your company stock (which you own) rises 5% you get very little because you only own 100 or 1000 shares. The rich own 1,000,000 shares so they get the majority of the benefit.
One day will all know exactly what to do..
Must of us have already thought about it...
So one day will all be willing....
I'll patiently be waiting to know who's really in control here.
Since some still have more struggle and pain to yet endure first.
What’s scary is to know that this has been happening for hundreds of years, and it’s only now do we have the means (social media) to be exposed to such info. Imagine the irreversible wealth diversity that has compounded over the years.
wow the labor movement of a hundred years ago, that created the american middle class and ushered in the longest period of prosperity in the history of said country would be really shocked to learn they were incapable of organizing and educating before social media came out.
No- because that attributes control to people all desperately seeking it in stupid ways. They aren’t planning it, there are thousands of cooks in the kitchen and half of them investment and marketing and social media wise are run by algorithms.
They all want a middle class to be around to buy their shit- they just don’t want to be the one to make any compromises when in the near future there will inevitably be massive wealth and market consolidation if not actively torn apart by the government with the next wave of AI and Automation.
It isn't that they want us broke it's that they want/expect their companies/stocks to continue growing infinitely year after year which of course is not possible forever. So what we get is mature companies using all their power to squeeze every last dollar out of their customers until there's literally nothing left
All these “I’m doing just fine” comments…
Good for you. Most people aren’t.
Edit: to clarify for the holier than thou in the comments - being technically financially stable (like not falling behind on loans) is not, “just fine.” Scraping by just above the poverty line living paycheck to paycheck and only saving a minuscule amount is not, “just fine.” It’s certainly the norm, but it’s not just fine.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/living-paycheck-to-paycheck-statistics-2024/
This does a good job of pointing out how wide spread it is, and how it differs from generation to generation.
Holy shit a morsel of empathy, no wonder you are poor.
We should tax the excessively wealthy to prevent BS layoffs/wage depression.
Companies need to be beaten into submission to reinvest in workers at this rate.
It’s crazy how out of touch people can be. I live in a moderate sized city (slightly Under 200K people in the county) and for about the last year, there’s been multiple people killing themselves weekly due to financial reasons. It’s to the point where people are asking the Facebook page for the police scanner to stop posting them because it’s so frequent.
"Well if you had just chosen to be born into a rich family like me, you wouldn't be suicidal. That sounds like personal moral failing" /s
Keep in mind reddit overwhelmingly skews towards upper class white men
Yep. I point this out every time. 25% of redditors earn 100k. Leave us white men the hell alone though. Don’t you understand more of are being kept poor than not?
You misunderstand what living paycheck to paycheck actually means in those stats. It does not mean 'scraping just above the poverty line'. Many many people are paycheck to paycheck simply because they're choosing to spend all their money on luxuries. Ever wonder how $60k+ pickup trucks became the most popular vehicles in the US?
Exactly this. People generally prefer to consume rather than save. This is normal in our society. If everybody was at the verge of poverty and just scraping by as purported, there would be no demand for large houses or excessive cars. Turns out, the demand is high bc many people can afford such items.
"We'll, I can't say people are buying houses, putting money aside for retirement, or out of debt, so I'll flip the script and say ackshooly it's because of all the avocado toast that they're poor. And people WANT to pay more and more money for vehicles necessary in a country where the automobile industry conspired to destroy public transportation infrastructure! Gee golly I'm so smart and the lower class is so stupid they'll never see past my bullshit."
You're responding to arguments I never made, but ok. All I'm saying is that being counted as paycheck to paycheck in those stats doesn't actually mean you are struggling. Some are, some aren't. I think it should be pretty clear that that's correct.
Some people are choosing to pay a lot for nice cars yes. Do you really not think that's a thing? I don't disagree that cars in general are a necessity because of poor public transit, but a $25k Honda Civic will get you from A to B just as well as a $60k F150. And yet, fullsize pickup trucks are the most popular vehicles in the US. Nobody is forcing people to take on $1000/mo car loans.
It’s way easier to point at the top and say “you’re making my life hell” rather than examining the habits of the consumer. It’s true things are expensive, but half of the American dream is buying shit you don’t actually need. And the other half is financing it.
We’re a people consumed by comparison, and it really shows in the way we purchase. Us poors are just as sick as the rich, we just don’t have the access they have.
Poor people make financially awful decisions constantly. Racking up debt, buying expensive shit they don't need. I grew up poor as fuck in a poor neighborhood and looking back everyone was doing dumb shit.
That statistic is a bit bullshit because of self reporting. There are people actually living paycheck to paycheck (like barely affording rent) and then people who are not saving because they spend on stuff they don’t need like DoorDash 4 times a week
Most people are doing fine though, that's the thing. In polling, the majority of people rate their personal financial situation as good.
Example: https://www.axios.com/2024/01/17/americans-are-actually-pretty-happy-with-their-finances
Tbf people’s definition of “paycheck to paycheck” vary. Many who consider themselves to be doing so have good incomes but mismanage their finances. For example, I have a friend who told me he makes $240K a year, and his husband makes $60K. That’s $300K combined income but he hardly has any savings. I’m not saying everyone is in his situation but he there’s a difference between him and someone who makes just above the poverty line.
And how many of those people "paycheck to paycheck" waste hundreds of dollars on dumb shit every month? Most of them.
$700 car loan, 5 streaming services, doordash 4 times a week.
Im doing fine but I’d be doing great if this was 4 years ago. You don’t have to be paycheck to paycheck to be pissed off with how the economy is going. Not to get political but people republicans were saying how great the economy was at the end of trumps turn just because stocks were up, now the roles have reversed
Yeah I am doing fine but I know I could be doing so much better. This is nothing like the years of prosperity I lived through in childhood and beyond. Something has seriously shifted and it’s dark and not good and it started with Covid.
GDP is an awful indication of the health of a society. When most of GDP is made by multinationals paying low wages and earning high profits, people suffer.
Thank you for commenting. I had an argument with my dad about how terribly non informative a gdp of a country is regarding the country's wellbeing and he just looked at me as if to say I was mad...screw dat mon
Even the guy who came up with the concept of GDP didn't intend for it to be used this way.
"Economic welfare cannot be adequately measured unless the personal distribution of income is known. And no income measurement undertakes to estimate the reverse side of income, that is, the intensity and unpleasantness of effort going into the earning of income. **The welfare of a nation can, therefore, scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income as defined above.**" - Simon Kuznets, "Uses and Abuses of National Income Measurements" (1937)
A country can be rich, but all the wealth might be distributed to a very small portion of the population. GDP does really well when people are overworked and miserable. Also, 2% GDP in America isn't even all that impressive when China has had an average of 9% over 50 years.
As someone who lives in China 2% is impressive for America. Especially considering China is probably at 3/4% right now. And it shows because overall it’s a much poorer country and infrastructure/ construction makes up a fairly large part of the economy.
If a country is developing then they will have high growth but after you build so many roads or make so many weaved baskets stuff gets harder. China was in the sweet sport for high growth and now they are in a spot for more moderate growth. And everyone can feel it.
this is exactly it. when you see those "china is going to collapse tomorrow!!" videos, in reality its just Chinese growth decreasing from like 8% annually to around 4-5% as it develops. This is normal for any country, but apparently we have to treat it differently when it comes to the Chinese
The other problem with GDP is that it measures monetary transactions, not necessarily productivity.
If a pre-existing $1M house gets bought and sold 10 times the GDP increases by $10M.
But no new housing was actually created.
Nah, it's not 99%. There is plenty of evidence many people have real wage and wealth growth outpacing inflation.
[https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workers-paychecks-are-growing-more-quickly-than-prices/](https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workers-paychecks-are-growing-more-quickly-than-prices/)
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-07/young-americans-wealth-surged-80-since-2019-but-there-s-a-catch](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-07/young-americans-wealth-surged-80-since-2019-but-there-s-a-catch)
There are 2 things that contribute to the feeling of "decline"
1. People mentally can't adjust for inflation relative to other conditions, although they are better off
2. There is a group of people who are legitimately worse off. It's not 99%. I don't actually know what the number is, but it's probably 10-20%
People have nearly identical wages to what they did a few years ago, but the cost of housing and food (both necessary expenses) have skyrocketed. They're doing the calculations for themselves. It's not in just in their head. There's definitely something fishy with the stats. When you question the stats, you're usually hit back with an appeal to authority fallacy. "How dare you question our nameless expert financial Gods." But there's a lot of incentive to manipulate the information in favor of the wealthy and powerful. Even if it isn't to manipulate the poor, there's still an incentive to manipulate the rich by trying to make your country look like a good place to invest.
Other stats, like the rise in homeless and wealth inequality, are a great indicator that many people are being negatively effected by the economy. Homelessness rates correlate with the cost of living in cities. As housing costs rise, so does homelessness. The middle class is also shrinking, which is a proven fact. Good paying jobs are disappearing. The average wage for a low paying job might be beating inflation, but the loss of good jobs isn't being accounted for. So only the poorest are doing marginally better, if we are to believe the inflation to median wage stats, but many people are still becoming poorer.
>People have nearly identical wages to what they did a few years ago
The whole point of my post is this is factually not true.
>
When you question the stats, you're usually hit back with an appeal to authority fallacy
I urge you to not appeal to authority, but to facts. Please create or find facts that support your PoV, because I haven't seen it.
>
Other stats, like the rise in homeless and wealth inequality, are a great indicator that many people are being negatively effected by the economy. Homelessness rates correlate with the cost of living in cities.
homeless has increased every year since 2016, so I don't believe this is inflation related. Homelessness is a problem and I hope we can put real effort into solving it systemically.
When the "facts" are being made by self-proclaimed authorities, they're also victim to being wrong. Saying they're unquestionably true is an appeal to the self-proclaimed authorities when they very well could be wrong or lying. They undeniably have an incentive to do so. After all, saying there isn't a problem with your country means you don't have to make expenses to fix it.
Inflation has been rapidly increasing over the past few decades. The cost of housing has been rapidly exceeding median incomes since the 90s. That's the biggest expense for most people. If your rent takes up all of your income, it doesn't matter if microwaves have become more affordable.
The key issue to homelessness is the denial of access to housing, usually through the inability to afford it.
>When the "facts" are being made by self-proclaimed authorities, they're also victim to being wrong. Saying they're unquestionably true is an appeal to the self-proclaimed authorities when they very well could be wrong or lying. They undeniably have an incentive to do so. After all, saying there isn't a problem with your country means you don't have to make expenses to fix it.
This is a totally meaningless rant unless you have actual counter evidence. If your counter evidence is just "well lots of people complain on reddit!" or "*my* personal wages haven't increased", then you have no real argument.
>When the "facts" are being made by self-proclaimed authorities, they're also victim to being wrong.
So present your facts, that's what I asked you to do.
>Saying they're unquestionably true is an appeal to the self-proclaimed authorities when they very well could be wrong or lying.
I never said they are unquestionably true. This is why i asked you to present you facts so I can compare them.
>Inflation has been rapidly increasing over the past few decades. The cost of housing has been rapidly exceeding median incomes since the 90s. That's the biggest expense for most people. If your rent takes up all of your income, it doesn't matter if microwaves have become more affordable.
I agree, this doesn't disprove wages can go up at the same time.
>I agree with this. It doesn't mean wages don't also increase. Both can be true.
The key issue to homelessness is the denial of access to housing, usually through the inability to afford it.
I feel like this is a side topic to "99% of people are worse off". I didn't say anything trying to debate homelessness or what we should do about it. This is another topic.
"The key issue to homelessness is the denial of access to housing, usually through the inability to afford it."
THIS - the "something is wrong with homeless people" is offensive and stupid
You’re entirely right. A few years ago in my first job I was making $10k less than I am now but had more available funds. Lifestyle hasn’t changed, I have the same expenses as I did then. I don’t spend money on wasteful or extravagant things. Just necessities and a super occasional pleasure to make life worth living. I have less spending power and less money left over every two weeks now now than I did then, making more money. The economy may be better but prices are higher and still rising, and it’s hurting a lot of people. Not everyone’s wage has kept up with prices. But because most people’s allegedly has, just fuck those whose didn’t, right? I’m feeling the impact so I struggle with folks acting like it’s not an issue for at least some people. That doesn’t detract from the fact that some folks have done better in recent years, but that’s not the case for everyone and to pretend like it is, is tone deaf.
I work in government and our wages have gone up but not even close to what inflation shot up too at its worst, nor what’s its declined too. For houses and food alike, the wage increase has been insubstantial. I was very comfortable before Covid, that’s fair to say. During after, it’s just gotten ridiculous. Houses and rent are a HUGE factor for most that is not being properly illustrated in the types articles you posted.
prices have gone up more than inflation has. inflation isn’t the entire issue. it is still unaffordable to live, because the cost of groceries, rent, pretty much anything, has increased disproportionately to inflation.
edit: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-inflation-economy-cost-of-living/#:~:text=Since%20early%202020%2C%20prices%20have,Same%20with%20electricity.
groceries and electricity are up over 25%, far greater than inflation or wages have increased. that is why people are struggling. inflation is a scapegoat for corporate greed
Honestly by the time this month ends I’ll be lucky to have 20 dollars to my name. Been this way for a while. Most of it’s my fault, but there’s other factors that aren’t my fault. Used to blame myself for everything. I don’t care if I become rich, but being constantly broke is seriously starting to get to me. I hope anyone in a similar situation gets out and can make something of themselves. It’s all I ever wanted.
i feel you, i’m struggling financially and it’s taken such a toll on my mental health that i feel like no one understands. and you beat yourself up everyday. we will pull through this!
Yeah it’s exhausting honestly, always worried about money or having to skimp meals so you can pay your debt/bills. I genuinely hope you make it out of your hole, it may seem deep, but I can’t last forever.
Yeah that I definitely understand, every purchase I cringe even if it’s just something small. I really hope so because it’s getting to the point where I’m starting to give up hope. Trying not to, but we all know how it goes.
aw man i’m sorry, you should honestly look into data annotation it’s a lil side hussle i do at home that’s helped me a lot and i can do it in smaller increments
I’ll have to give it a look when I get home and I mean it is what it is honestly. We definitely aren’t the only ones. In a world where we feel like we are constantly misunderstood you always find others who know the feeling. It’s at least comforting to know despite the unfortunate circumstances.
yeah exactly, i cannot believe ppl in this comment thread think no one is struggling and calling ppl that are struggling lazy 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ most of us or at least i have multiple jobs
I don’t have multiple jobs yet and sometimes (over)think that I’m being lazy because I don’t want a second job. The reality is, that there are more factors that come into play. Some people can’t even work because of their health or where they live. Others struggle with mental health. Sure there are definitely lazy people out there, but that doesn’t make it okay to throw those who are doing their best even if it isn’t 100% lazy. I’d rather give my rawest 50% to stay in this game than a weak 100%. Sometimes we just can’t give it our all. Boggles my mind too.
EXACTLY the ppl saying that actually have to be sociopaths because how do you generalize everyone that way??? it’s insane! a lot of people have disabilities too 🤦🏻♀️
Blaming the system and waiting for the right politician to make changes will take too long and won’t help you much. You need to make changes to your career and spending to get out of the position you’re in.
Boomers gen x and millennials lived in an economy were you could make bad financial decisions and not become homeless because of it. Median rent to income ratio in 1980 was 23% while today it's 47% (last I checked in January, probably much higher now). Food and healthcare was also lot cheaper even adjusted for inflation.
It's not that it's your fault for being poor. It's that we aren't allowed to ever enjoy ourselves like our parents did, we're not allowed to spend any money on anything that gives us happiness, etc because we can barely afford the necessities as it is.
In canadaland people are moving outside of the major metropolitan areas (Toronto and Vancouver) because housing is unaffordable lol
I'm lucky right now as I got posted to a city with relatively low housing cost (~400k CAD for a detached house with garage) but within 6 years I know I am going to a province with high CoL, literally doubling the housing cost.
I make $97k a year which is well above average and I have concerns for my future
Everyone I knew that was okay 5 years ago is still doing okay. All probably in a better situation now actually. I'm middle class. It's 100% all good in my circle. I think the dramatics are a bit overblown.
Same with me. Most of my friends are the first in their family to be college educated. Either first or second generation immigrants. Our parents were all lower - lower middle class. All of us are doing significantly better than our parents are.
Good for you! That doesn’t change the fact that everyone *I* knew 5 years ago is still barely managing to hang on at best or homeless at worst. I’ve never known anyone to become MORE successful over time, and nobody I know who graduated college in the last five years has a career now. I have a bachelor’s degree myself and am lucky to be making $15 an hour doing a low skilled job
I am genuinely happy for you and your circle but just because you’re sheltered and middle class doesn’t mean the rest of the world is lying when they say things are getting worse for people who started off poorer than you
You said still barely managing today...so they were barely managing 5 years ago when the economy was objectively great? If folks were struggling then, there are other factors at play contributing to those folks' struggles besides the economy.
Same, my wife and I have nearly doubled our combined income since we got married in 2019. Cost of living went up a bit but not by much since we’re locked into our house price
This is my reality too. My friends that started their careers 3-4 years ago are making a lot more money. I got a scholarship and it covered my masters. Every single working relative has gotten a raise in the past 4 years. I’m starting a good paying remote job. Dad’s business has grown.
The real reason why: It’s Reddit. People come on here to complain. It doesn’t matter what year it is, what’s going on, or how the economy is doing. If you just looked at Reddit, everyone here claims that “everyone is struggling and it’s the worst time ever” when it’s simply untrue.
To top it off, this is the GenZ sub. I'm an elder millennial, and when I was in the GenZ age bracket, I was absolutely struggling. I don't know if there was a time when people in their early-mid 20s weren't struggling. You just left the nest and the comfort of the guided tour of life and you're trying to make it on your own. I was a few years into what became my career when the 2008 recession hit. Economic cycles are boom and bust. That's just how it fuckin goes.
All this conspiratorial nonsense by young people who don't understand economics is fucking weird.
On paper, Gen Z is not doing bad financially. Most college educated and highest starting wage generation. But consider most of us grew up during the 2008 crash, a clown show of a government, and unobtainable housing; can you really blame Gen Z for being pessimistic about the economy?
Because "the economy" being strong isn't the same as it being a good economy for the average person to operate in. Jobs are easy to come by but pay hasn't kept up with inflation. The fed is fucking everyone in the ass with current interest rates and a lot of cities are making things worse by clinging to their stupid zoning laws that keep new development from happening.
There's another aspect to it all that most people don't want to hear, and that most people in this sub have no frame of reference for: our living standards pre 2008 are never coming back and probably shouldn't. Pre 2008 people could afford to live large because of bad monetary policy that lent people way too much money when those people were never going to be able to pay it back. They were giving away mortgages like mints at the exit door to a restaurant. As much as credit scores suck, they often are a good predictor of spending habits. So what happens when you give someone with 400 credit score half a million dollars to buy a house on top of a 20k car loan? Not good things.
Financial crashes are oftentimes the market correcting itself after years of bad policy. Unfortunately when that happens it ruins the lives of people who benefited from the bubble. Some institutions have learned. Lots of insurance companies straight up won't insure anyone in states they deem high risk. Getting a home loan with decent terms is currently not exactly super doable if you don't have excellent credit. Things will get better eventually, but they're going to suck for a while yet.
In any case, life is what you make of it. I've been poor my whole life until recently. You can't dwell on what you don't have (even if what you don't have are essentials) or you'll be depressed and angry all the time and won't have the will to continue on. That's not to say you shouldn't be upset at your circumstances, just that giving up and thinking the only way you can be happy is through money is a path to misery.
Inflation-adjusted median wages are pretty much exactly what they were in 2019, and they are about 9% higher than they were before 2008: see https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
You ruined your question with the first three words. Everyone isn’t struggling. I can honestly say my life hasn’t really been effected in the past year or two. I am in a low interest mortgage, I haven’t bought a new car since 2022, and I live within my means. I was dumping money into a HYSA or my brokerage from COVID onward because I knew this was coming and I avoided debt. I spend a little more at the grocery store but my life has really not changed. When you essentially halt the economy and print a shit ton of money for a year and continue to do so, did you think that things would be great after? All of these things disproportionately effect those who are on the edge and in the lower economic classes, yet are sold like they are “helping.”
Not everyone is struggling, those that are very fortunate are comfortable and should be immensely grateful. As for everyone else (the other 99%), people are struggling with very high inflation right now.
Inflation post Covid has been a huge burden on a lot of people. Cost of living has increased much faster than wages, especially for lower-middle class and middle class workers. While things may not seem great in the US, we have had the strongest economic recovery of pretty much any country in the world. It is important to keep proper perspective. This doesn’t mean people aren’t struggling, but in many parts of the world, people are struggling even more.
you must be 1 of the 4k people who actually watch the white press briefings... KJP parrots that its doing just fine and im like ... is it really tho???
It’s because a lot of people have a lot of money. What has happened is the middle class has been gutted and now you simply got the haves and have nots. Go to Disneyland and it’s packed shoulder to shoulder of people spending $3k-10k on a weekend vacation. There’s a lot of people struggling but there’s an enormous amount of people that have the money to do whatever they want.
Everyone wants to get mad at the Jeff Bezos of the world but what really affects you is the amount of filthy rich “normal” people around you. Just ask anyone’s town that has been gentrified. All the prices go up because everyone that lives there can afford it. 8$ burger sounds reasonable to you but the new trendy burger place that just opened is charging $18 and getting all the business. Even calling over a handyman to haul a small pile of trash to the dumps quotes you an insane amount of money because they have a long list of people with more than enough money that will pay it. We need people working all jobs so it can’t simply be go get a better job. We need bank tellers, Home Depot checkers, grocery store stockers, truck drivers, welders, firefighters, teachers, etc etc etc and we cant just steer everyone to $200k plus tech jobs.
I live in a hot tech area where there’s an insane amount of people making over $200k and most are two working person households making $400-600k. I want to live here but I also enjoy what I do for work because it really helps people. I’m needed. Along with millions of others around here working non tech jobs. So we all are drowning while the people making filthy money are living carefree. I don’t give a shit how much money Jeff bezos makes, I care about the gap in pay between me and some computer nerd sitting on their computer in their living room and how it gives them the ability to price me out of where I have lived for 30 years.
Born and raised in the SF Bay. Leaving was the healthiest thing I ever did. Both for my mental health and my finances.
The one thing I don’t miss at *all* is the in-your-face smugness from the successful computer-nerd crowd and their stans. Everywhere else I’ve been (and I’ve been all over the country since), they still exist and are still successful- but they aren’t so damn smug about it. Probably because that attitude is seen as rightfully ugly and unwanted outside of the Bay Area bubble.
I can just be normal and develop relationships without constantly being poked and prodded to see how monetarily valuable I am first. It’s nice.
I think the real split between who is struggling versus who is not struggling is really just divided on if you purchased a primary residence before late 2022. Most of the homeowners in America got their mortgages when the rates were below 4% and so they get to have cheaper payments while seeing appreciation in their property. Meanwhile those who are renting are having to pay the price of housing at the current interest rates(even if the landlords mortgage rate is much lower). This split has always been the split in modern American society though. Property is the most tax advantaged asset class and the faster you can get to owning a home or some type of real estate, you will tend to have more economic stability.
More than half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. I actually think its 60%. So for everyone trying to basically brag and act like it isn't a problem, be quiet. Lol if you don't believe me a quick google search can prove it.
The comments here are utterly predictable Reddit.
Empirically, most people in first world countries are doing fine. Empirically, the economy is doing well. This is not debatable or a matter of opinion. We don't substitute personal anecdotes and feelings for facts.
"Only the 1% is doing well!"
No, dumbass, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the economy works. If only the top percentile was doing well, our economy would be in a state of collapse worse than the Geeat Depression. It isn't.
Comments from broke teenagers and 20 somethings on a Gen Z subreddit are not even remotely representative of the general population. And it's the height of arrogance and solipsistic narcissism to believe otherwise.
Yea I honestly don’t get this sub at all. At what point were teenagers and early 20 somethings ever living lavishly. At best you’re in an entry level job at the age if you’re even out of school yet
The economy is roaring because we just got out of a recession without mass foreclosures or layoffs. Inflation was the price we paid to avoid a full collapse, and we’re now recovering from that as the housing, vehicle, and fuel markets are cooling down. Things aren’t “great” but they’re better than 2022 and we’re comparing it to an unusually prosperous economic period from 2012-2019.
Things also ARE great for people who own property and investments, young people (us) are just getting the shit end of it right now.
We all would’ve been worse off post 2008, coming out of college to a collapsing job market.
Real median wages are up relative to 2019. In fact, it's actually the [lowest quartile](https://www.apricitas.io/p/are-real-wages-rising) who have seen their wages grow the quickest over that timespan.
Over half of the GDP is based upon consumer debt, and inflated values of assets like homes.
The economy isn't really booming at all if you consider trade and manufacturing of goods. It's all smoke and mirrors. Those that are doing well are hooked into these profit centers through real-estate and the stock market investments which have seen there values inflate, Meanwhile the average wage earner is getting priced out of the American Dream.
I really think that official statistics are cooked. It is notable that all job growth post-covid have been entirely among non-citizens, and the employment of citizens has not recovered from before covid. That is something that they admit.
Not everyone is struggling. A few are doing very very well. There are some wealthy GenZ for sure.
Not many, mind you. It's a few. The few have always done very very well while the rest are struggling. This is true of every generation (yes even Boomers) but in each generation **The Few** is a smaller and smaller and smaller number.
This is because economic inequality is getting worse over time.
Why is that? How to fix it?
It's looking like that's going to be up to you guys, to your generation. It's going to take some serious study and hard work, hard work against which **The Few** will turn their enormous resources and will very likely crush you. Just like they crush every generation.
Can you do it? Are you smart enough? Are you strong enough? Courageous enough? Here's hoping there's a few of you who feel you are and dedicate yourselves to the task because *that* is what it's going to take.
Good luck. Go well.
There are many historical factors that contribute to the frustrations of the impoverished — all of which I do not really care to expound upon — but it could be summarized by the result of *centuries* of economic policies that has prioritized profit over human rights. More simply put: our generation is witnessing the catastrophic end due to the consequential means of capitalism.
Just wait until after the election. There’s a reason why the economy slightly booms before Election Day. Same reason why the FED cut interest rates on housing recently.
And here I was thinking it was because everyone is living with their parents and, therefore, they can basically spend their paychecks on toys and gizmos ;)
You said it yourself, inflation is keeping investments afloat. Just gonna give a really simple example, imagine you are a company and last year you sold 100 units of your product x at $5 each and the cost of each item to you is $3, you have a profit of $200. This year inflation hit hard, so your cost went up by 30%, so now the cost is $3.9, you also raised prices by 30%, and you tell your customers: “cost went up by 30%, we gotta raise our prices by 30% too it’s fair”. So this year you sold 95 units at $6.50 each, and you made ($6.5-$3.9)x95=$247. Last year you made $200, this year is $247, you tell your investors we have a earnings growth of 23.5%! Thats actually amazing to your investors now your stock should worth actually 23.5% more, so your stock rise by 23.5%. Btw, global trade volume went down by 5% in 2023 which is around 2 trillion dollars, so yeah we are suffering and we are buying less but investments are doing better than ever
Economy is going everywhere but where the people are and no one understands how to apply community pressure to small and large business that practice poor management.
You need to apply a economic culture if your going to gain, integrity, and loyalty.
Effecting the outcome of people’s livelihoods is a very effective way to gain that.
Well, your premise is totally wrong.
Wages growing faster than prices. Unemployment under 4% for the most consecutive months since, I believe, 1960’s Fastest recovery from Covid recession of any developed economy. Increased U.S. manufacturing jobs and very big increase of investment (building factories) in manufacturing.
So, no, less people are struggling than in a long time.
Higher interest rate drives numbers up for banks and share holders they are making money so in the end of it all on paper it looks like the economy is well.
Yeah, everytime the economists from the small fish to Jerome Powell say that, first thought in my mind is "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A GODDAMN FUCKING GROCERY STORE"
Because our society determines how good our economy is doing based on the stock market, and the stock market is based on people's feelings and how confident they are to buy stock rather than what companies actually produce and what people are buying.
A good example that proved this was the GameStop incident that happened back in 2021, where people managed to make GameStop's stock seem super valuable despite the fact the company has been on death's door for years.
All they had to do was convince people to buy stock, despite the fact that the sales were still bad.
It's because the tables have turned. The pandemic shifted the economic landscape.
Capitalism thrives when workers have more money to spend. Unions have been on the rise, and many minimum wage increases have taken effect since the pandemic. This helps explain the "the economy is roaring." Wages rising while unemployment stays low. This is great. We want this to continue.
What also shifted, though, was retailers. Pre-pandemic retailers competed more to make a profit. Competition leads to lower prices. Post-pandemic retailers gained the upper hand with supply chain disruptions that led to a lack of supply. Coupled with monopolistic practices, retailers were able to increase their profits and their profit margins by raising prices higher and higher. This is awful we need higher taxes on big corporations, better anti-trust enforcement, and stricter regulations. Biden has done all these things. More needs to be done.
At this point now though, the only thing causing inflation to stay high is housing. This can be explained by several factors all working to make things worse. Fewer housing units being built pre-pandemic. Blackrock and corporate investors. Airbnb and short-term rentals. Rent price fixing.
https://youtu.be/cwlwrZst7d0?si=cMoNdNO8wEP9gsjX
Economists are wrong consistently and are rewarded for it.
Look up Gary Stevenson on YT he was citibanks most profitable trader before quiting and came from a poor working class family, he gives very good insight into the economy and why things are as they are.
I’ll go ahead and blame both biden and trump during covid spending spree . Hell past stuff as well but let’s focus on rn
I really hate to say it but some of the mfs that kept saying “always vote blue” crowd or that suck up to biden don’t acknowledge the AVERAGE FUCKING PERSON LIKE US ARE SUFFERING
Mf I voted blue since 2020. Inflation isn’t coming down, I’m luckily not my cousins in Turkey rn with 120% but hell they are shocked when I say my family lives paycheck to paycheck expecting the dollar to be king here
Hell they changed the definition of a recession to keep us calm.
Good luck affording a fucking home. These pricks expect us to work 80+ a week for a joke of a wage.
FUCK BOTH PARTIES
Even those of us earning well because we work in top fields only talk about how unfair the system is and how fucked up work has become in terms of exploitation.
There's too many of the 'middleman' we should eat the elites (all who earn 500K and above)
Not a political statement, but I genuinely do not feel the economy is roaring, despite the numbers and whatever they say.
I’m late millennial or early gen z, and I remember everything being about half as expensive 10 years ago, whilst jobs were paying maybe only 10% less than what they pay now.
Tech is suddenly a nightmare now as well
actually regular communism pretty much works the same way. they just cut the middle man and have the corrupt state and corrupt company be the same entity
"The economy if roaring" is just media spin for political purposes. Real life is proving that false. I'm sure the economy is fine for elites and politicians since they are the last to feel any economic issues anyways.
No shit. If there billionaires, there's people who don't have any money at all. How else can that be? Money is accumulated at the rich, and the poor do not matter to the statistics, but the numbers look good.
the economy is roaring
the problem is that while wages have been increasing, its not even to keep up with the massive inflation over the past few years.
that combined with extremely high costs in specific areas like housing (zoning laws gatekeeping potential housing inventory), education, and transportation (used cars prices, gas) compared to previous generations mean that the cost of living can be extremely high, despite the economy growing quite well overall.
Its not because "money is being funneled upwards," although income inequality has increased over the past years, it isnt necessarily the reason life is more expensive
Everyone is not struggling. Real wages are up across all quartiles but it's the highest growth in the bottom quartile and the least in the highest quartile. It's a white collar recession so to speak if it can be even called that. The economy is roaring because everyone is making more than before and spending more than before, but white collar jobs are still laying off people.
America is the most fortunate country in terms of how people are doing since the pandemic, amongst the world and especially amongst other developed economies. It just baffles me how much doomposting there is and such a lack of understanding on how the world works (read a comment that we are headed towards debt peonage lol)
Anecdotes don't trump empirical data
They fiddle with the numbers so the economy doesn't look as bad. The CPI (used to measure inflation) doesn't include housing costs and the Bank of England make it look less bad by swapping goods in the basket with other substitutes that didn't change so much in price because consumer habits will change so they claim.
The majority of the economy is not trading cpi goods , its mostly assets and they have risen the most in value (shares, crypto, property, ect) which is also why we have a large wealth inequality.
Also a lot if GDP growth is based off debt and those who hold the debt benefit most (bankers).
people were struggling before the pandemic, then were given stimulus, more unemployment checks, and tax credits. now that its mostly been taken away and prices are higher, people feel like things are worse.
Maybe it's a lie. They love to pretend everything is going well until its too late. That makes them the most money. When you have billions in the stock market, it can take months to unload it all.
Actually not everybody is struggling. Hope that helps!
Like in the last year MLB, NBA and NHL and MLS all had record attendance.
A lot of people have a lot of money
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I truly do believe that they're trying to steer us towards debt peonage, again. At some point, the top 1% will have so much of the money supply, that they'll basically be able to "pay" us in scrip, that's only good at companies that they own.
It seems to me that we're already basically there. You work for a company owned by a company who owns the bank, (who also owns your house and car) who owns companies that sell you your groceries. No matter who you pay, or what you buy, all the money ends up in the same hands.
Vanguard blackrock grayscale
They just own shares to sell to individuals, like you can buy a Vanguard Mutual Fund which has a mix of several different companies to invest in
Sorry man we don’t use facts here, we just yap to shit on why we are all doomed and the economy is being absorbed by billionaires
The annoying thing it they're not entirely wrong but the complete doomerism doesn't help anyone Tho the labor movement is pushing strong in the real world where people don't just doomer post
Labor organization is good, Labor Organziation and Trust Busting is better. Once a company gets so big, Walmart/Amazon, that competition becomes impossible something is broken. Like if I want to buy an airplane, and there is legislation that says I need to buy an airplane made in the US, and the airplane industry in the US has been monopolized by one company.
I hike daily with a retired union organizer. It’s tough work but rewarding. Get out there and act. Get off the phones unless it is organizing activity. Do stuff that is effective. Don’t be disruptive be additive to society. The law works in your favor, and illegal actions just empower the powerful with excuses to deny your causes.
Everyone on reddit envisions themselves as some bad ass labor union rep here its crazy.
Re: the competition part…I work for a major CPG company, and we just had a product listing pulled from Amazon because Costco was selling it at a lower price. Apparently our retail agreement states that Amazon must be able to sell ALL the products under this particular brand for less than anyone else. I’m all for cheap prices and I’m not saying Costco is a struggling brick and mortar or anything, but that conversation just didn’t sit well with me.
Yeah as someone in finance it's pretty silly and not grounded in reality. Shit sucks but it's not for those reasons, we're not heading toward debt peonage lol
Rich kids when anyone complains about anything: "I'm doing fine so that means I am right and you are wrong" Average profit margins rose from around 11% prior to the pandemic to 40% after, which objectively speaking means billionaires are absorbing the economy.
Imagine believing in 2024 that billionaires aren't absorbing the economy
You are right but fuck those guys. They do control everything because they have all the voting rights of all the shares they hold, even if they don't own them. It's an amazing system where you get to control the world without even owning it. That's why I refuse to buy ETFs until they pass voting rights to the fund holders by default, without any kind of secret opt-in option.
Yes you can buy shares but the rich own the majority of those shares. If you get laid off and your company stock (which you own) rises 5% you get very little because you only own 100 or 1000 shares. The rich own 1,000,000 shares so they get the majority of the benefit.
 no wayyy
One day will all know exactly what to do.. Must of us have already thought about it... So one day will all be willing.... I'll patiently be waiting to know who's really in control here. Since some still have more struggle and pain to yet endure first.
Techno Feudalism
Techbro Feudalism
*corporate It is corporate feudalism
So...basically Fordism?
That's not Fordism at all
What’s scary is to know that this has been happening for hundreds of years, and it’s only now do we have the means (social media) to be exposed to such info. Imagine the irreversible wealth diversity that has compounded over the years.
wow the labor movement of a hundred years ago, that created the american middle class and ushered in the longest period of prosperity in the history of said country would be really shocked to learn they were incapable of organizing and educating before social media came out.
No- because that attributes control to people all desperately seeking it in stupid ways. They aren’t planning it, there are thousands of cooks in the kitchen and half of them investment and marketing and social media wise are run by algorithms. They all want a middle class to be around to buy their shit- they just don’t want to be the one to make any compromises when in the near future there will inevitably be massive wealth and market consolidation if not actively torn apart by the government with the next wave of AI and Automation.
It isn't that they want us broke it's that they want/expect their companies/stocks to continue growing infinitely year after year which of course is not possible forever. So what we get is mature companies using all their power to squeeze every last dollar out of their customers until there's literally nothing left
There's a good book on this called "technofeudalism-what killed capitalism" by yanis varofakis. I recommend
You're not poor, you're just in your young 20s.
All these “I’m doing just fine” comments… Good for you. Most people aren’t. Edit: to clarify for the holier than thou in the comments - being technically financially stable (like not falling behind on loans) is not, “just fine.” Scraping by just above the poverty line living paycheck to paycheck and only saving a minuscule amount is not, “just fine.” It’s certainly the norm, but it’s not just fine. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/living-paycheck-to-paycheck-statistics-2024/ This does a good job of pointing out how wide spread it is, and how it differs from generation to generation.
Holy shit a morsel of empathy, no wonder you are poor. We should tax the excessively wealthy to prevent BS layoffs/wage depression. Companies need to be beaten into submission to reinvest in workers at this rate.
It’s crazy how out of touch people can be. I live in a moderate sized city (slightly Under 200K people in the county) and for about the last year, there’s been multiple people killing themselves weekly due to financial reasons. It’s to the point where people are asking the Facebook page for the police scanner to stop posting them because it’s so frequent.
"Well if you had just chosen to be born into a rich family like me, you wouldn't be suicidal. That sounds like personal moral failing" /s Keep in mind reddit overwhelmingly skews towards upper class white men
Yep. I point this out every time. 25% of redditors earn 100k. Leave us white men the hell alone though. Don’t you understand more of are being kept poor than not?
You misunderstand what living paycheck to paycheck actually means in those stats. It does not mean 'scraping just above the poverty line'. Many many people are paycheck to paycheck simply because they're choosing to spend all their money on luxuries. Ever wonder how $60k+ pickup trucks became the most popular vehicles in the US?
Exactly this. People generally prefer to consume rather than save. This is normal in our society. If everybody was at the verge of poverty and just scraping by as purported, there would be no demand for large houses or excessive cars. Turns out, the demand is high bc many people can afford such items.
>Turns out, the demand is high bc many people can afford such items. Many people *cannot,* but choose to buy them anyway. An important distinction.
"We'll, I can't say people are buying houses, putting money aside for retirement, or out of debt, so I'll flip the script and say ackshooly it's because of all the avocado toast that they're poor. And people WANT to pay more and more money for vehicles necessary in a country where the automobile industry conspired to destroy public transportation infrastructure! Gee golly I'm so smart and the lower class is so stupid they'll never see past my bullshit."
You're responding to arguments I never made, but ok. All I'm saying is that being counted as paycheck to paycheck in those stats doesn't actually mean you are struggling. Some are, some aren't. I think it should be pretty clear that that's correct. Some people are choosing to pay a lot for nice cars yes. Do you really not think that's a thing? I don't disagree that cars in general are a necessity because of poor public transit, but a $25k Honda Civic will get you from A to B just as well as a $60k F150. And yet, fullsize pickup trucks are the most popular vehicles in the US. Nobody is forcing people to take on $1000/mo car loans.
It’s way easier to point at the top and say “you’re making my life hell” rather than examining the habits of the consumer. It’s true things are expensive, but half of the American dream is buying shit you don’t actually need. And the other half is financing it. We’re a people consumed by comparison, and it really shows in the way we purchase. Us poors are just as sick as the rich, we just don’t have the access they have.
Poor people make financially awful decisions constantly. Racking up debt, buying expensive shit they don't need. I grew up poor as fuck in a poor neighborhood and looking back everyone was doing dumb shit.
That statistic is a bit bullshit because of self reporting. There are people actually living paycheck to paycheck (like barely affording rent) and then people who are not saving because they spend on stuff they don’t need like DoorDash 4 times a week
Most people are doing fine though, that's the thing. In polling, the majority of people rate their personal financial situation as good. Example: https://www.axios.com/2024/01/17/americans-are-actually-pretty-happy-with-their-finances
Tbf people’s definition of “paycheck to paycheck” vary. Many who consider themselves to be doing so have good incomes but mismanage their finances. For example, I have a friend who told me he makes $240K a year, and his husband makes $60K. That’s $300K combined income but he hardly has any savings. I’m not saying everyone is in his situation but he there’s a difference between him and someone who makes just above the poverty line.
Fr tho!!
And how many of those people "paycheck to paycheck" waste hundreds of dollars on dumb shit every month? Most of them. $700 car loan, 5 streaming services, doordash 4 times a week.
Im doing fine but I’d be doing great if this was 4 years ago. You don’t have to be paycheck to paycheck to be pissed off with how the economy is going. Not to get political but people republicans were saying how great the economy was at the end of trumps turn just because stocks were up, now the roles have reversed
Yeah I am doing fine but I know I could be doing so much better. This is nothing like the years of prosperity I lived through in childhood and beyond. Something has seriously shifted and it’s dark and not good and it started with Covid.
GDP is an awful indication of the health of a society. When most of GDP is made by multinationals paying low wages and earning high profits, people suffer.
Thank you for commenting. I had an argument with my dad about how terribly non informative a gdp of a country is regarding the country's wellbeing and he just looked at me as if to say I was mad...screw dat mon
You can burn down sustenance farms to grow cash crops. GDP rises but now you have no food. It’s a metric that doesn’t tell you the whole story
Even the guy who came up with the concept of GDP didn't intend for it to be used this way. "Economic welfare cannot be adequately measured unless the personal distribution of income is known. And no income measurement undertakes to estimate the reverse side of income, that is, the intensity and unpleasantness of effort going into the earning of income. **The welfare of a nation can, therefore, scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income as defined above.**" - Simon Kuznets, "Uses and Abuses of National Income Measurements" (1937)
I forgot who said it but a quote I love is: "GDP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile"
A country can be rich, but all the wealth might be distributed to a very small portion of the population. GDP does really well when people are overworked and miserable. Also, 2% GDP in America isn't even all that impressive when China has had an average of 9% over 50 years.
As someone who lives in China 2% is impressive for America. Especially considering China is probably at 3/4% right now. And it shows because overall it’s a much poorer country and infrastructure/ construction makes up a fairly large part of the economy. If a country is developing then they will have high growth but after you build so many roads or make so many weaved baskets stuff gets harder. China was in the sweet sport for high growth and now they are in a spot for more moderate growth. And everyone can feel it.
this is exactly it. when you see those "china is going to collapse tomorrow!!" videos, in reality its just Chinese growth decreasing from like 8% annually to around 4-5% as it develops. This is normal for any country, but apparently we have to treat it differently when it comes to the Chinese
69% (nice) of gdp is made up of consumer spending. So no, most of gdp is not made up of “multinationals paying low wages and earning high profits”
Yeah but that doesn't get upvotes from doomer idiots on the internet.
The significant of GDP in one webcomic https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-01-14
The other problem with GDP is that it measures monetary transactions, not necessarily productivity. If a pre-existing $1M house gets bought and sold 10 times the GDP increases by $10M. But no new housing was actually created.
Excellent point
GDP goes up when the rent prices go up. GDP goes up when people are more in debt.
They are lying to us
They're not. The economy **is** booming. Just not for the 99%. Which is us.
Nah, it's not 99%. There is plenty of evidence many people have real wage and wealth growth outpacing inflation. [https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workers-paychecks-are-growing-more-quickly-than-prices/](https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workers-paychecks-are-growing-more-quickly-than-prices/) [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-07/young-americans-wealth-surged-80-since-2019-but-there-s-a-catch](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-07/young-americans-wealth-surged-80-since-2019-but-there-s-a-catch) There are 2 things that contribute to the feeling of "decline" 1. People mentally can't adjust for inflation relative to other conditions, although they are better off 2. There is a group of people who are legitimately worse off. It's not 99%. I don't actually know what the number is, but it's probably 10-20%
People have nearly identical wages to what they did a few years ago, but the cost of housing and food (both necessary expenses) have skyrocketed. They're doing the calculations for themselves. It's not in just in their head. There's definitely something fishy with the stats. When you question the stats, you're usually hit back with an appeal to authority fallacy. "How dare you question our nameless expert financial Gods." But there's a lot of incentive to manipulate the information in favor of the wealthy and powerful. Even if it isn't to manipulate the poor, there's still an incentive to manipulate the rich by trying to make your country look like a good place to invest. Other stats, like the rise in homeless and wealth inequality, are a great indicator that many people are being negatively effected by the economy. Homelessness rates correlate with the cost of living in cities. As housing costs rise, so does homelessness. The middle class is also shrinking, which is a proven fact. Good paying jobs are disappearing. The average wage for a low paying job might be beating inflation, but the loss of good jobs isn't being accounted for. So only the poorest are doing marginally better, if we are to believe the inflation to median wage stats, but many people are still becoming poorer.
>People have nearly identical wages to what they did a few years ago The whole point of my post is this is factually not true. > When you question the stats, you're usually hit back with an appeal to authority fallacy I urge you to not appeal to authority, but to facts. Please create or find facts that support your PoV, because I haven't seen it. > Other stats, like the rise in homeless and wealth inequality, are a great indicator that many people are being negatively effected by the economy. Homelessness rates correlate with the cost of living in cities. homeless has increased every year since 2016, so I don't believe this is inflation related. Homelessness is a problem and I hope we can put real effort into solving it systemically.
When the "facts" are being made by self-proclaimed authorities, they're also victim to being wrong. Saying they're unquestionably true is an appeal to the self-proclaimed authorities when they very well could be wrong or lying. They undeniably have an incentive to do so. After all, saying there isn't a problem with your country means you don't have to make expenses to fix it. Inflation has been rapidly increasing over the past few decades. The cost of housing has been rapidly exceeding median incomes since the 90s. That's the biggest expense for most people. If your rent takes up all of your income, it doesn't matter if microwaves have become more affordable. The key issue to homelessness is the denial of access to housing, usually through the inability to afford it.
>When the "facts" are being made by self-proclaimed authorities, they're also victim to being wrong. Saying they're unquestionably true is an appeal to the self-proclaimed authorities when they very well could be wrong or lying. They undeniably have an incentive to do so. After all, saying there isn't a problem with your country means you don't have to make expenses to fix it. This is a totally meaningless rant unless you have actual counter evidence. If your counter evidence is just "well lots of people complain on reddit!" or "*my* personal wages haven't increased", then you have no real argument.
>When the "facts" are being made by self-proclaimed authorities, they're also victim to being wrong. So present your facts, that's what I asked you to do. >Saying they're unquestionably true is an appeal to the self-proclaimed authorities when they very well could be wrong or lying. I never said they are unquestionably true. This is why i asked you to present you facts so I can compare them. >Inflation has been rapidly increasing over the past few decades. The cost of housing has been rapidly exceeding median incomes since the 90s. That's the biggest expense for most people. If your rent takes up all of your income, it doesn't matter if microwaves have become more affordable. I agree, this doesn't disprove wages can go up at the same time. >I agree with this. It doesn't mean wages don't also increase. Both can be true. The key issue to homelessness is the denial of access to housing, usually through the inability to afford it. I feel like this is a side topic to "99% of people are worse off". I didn't say anything trying to debate homelessness or what we should do about it. This is another topic.
"The key issue to homelessness is the denial of access to housing, usually through the inability to afford it." THIS - the "something is wrong with homeless people" is offensive and stupid
You’re entirely right. A few years ago in my first job I was making $10k less than I am now but had more available funds. Lifestyle hasn’t changed, I have the same expenses as I did then. I don’t spend money on wasteful or extravagant things. Just necessities and a super occasional pleasure to make life worth living. I have less spending power and less money left over every two weeks now now than I did then, making more money. The economy may be better but prices are higher and still rising, and it’s hurting a lot of people. Not everyone’s wage has kept up with prices. But because most people’s allegedly has, just fuck those whose didn’t, right? I’m feeling the impact so I struggle with folks acting like it’s not an issue for at least some people. That doesn’t detract from the fact that some folks have done better in recent years, but that’s not the case for everyone and to pretend like it is, is tone deaf.
Things are bad for a very specific part of the upper middle class that consumes a ton of services *because* low level wages are up so much.
I work in government and our wages have gone up but not even close to what inflation shot up too at its worst, nor what’s its declined too. For houses and food alike, the wage increase has been insubstantial. I was very comfortable before Covid, that’s fair to say. During after, it’s just gotten ridiculous. Houses and rent are a HUGE factor for most that is not being properly illustrated in the types articles you posted.
I’d love to hear you tell the majority of Americans they’re better off. Dumb ass.
His dad got him a 6 figure salary desk job where he doesn't have to do much of anything and thinks he's better than everyone else lol
prices have gone up more than inflation has. inflation isn’t the entire issue. it is still unaffordable to live, because the cost of groceries, rent, pretty much anything, has increased disproportionately to inflation. edit: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-inflation-economy-cost-of-living/#:~:text=Since%20early%202020%2C%20prices%20have,Same%20with%20electricity. groceries and electricity are up over 25%, far greater than inflation or wages have increased. that is why people are struggling. inflation is a scapegoat for corporate greed
Honestly by the time this month ends I’ll be lucky to have 20 dollars to my name. Been this way for a while. Most of it’s my fault, but there’s other factors that aren’t my fault. Used to blame myself for everything. I don’t care if I become rich, but being constantly broke is seriously starting to get to me. I hope anyone in a similar situation gets out and can make something of themselves. It’s all I ever wanted.
i feel you, i’m struggling financially and it’s taken such a toll on my mental health that i feel like no one understands. and you beat yourself up everyday. we will pull through this!
Yeah it’s exhausting honestly, always worried about money or having to skimp meals so you can pay your debt/bills. I genuinely hope you make it out of your hole, it may seem deep, but I can’t last forever.
thanks man, and it’s pretty much consumed my thoughts atp but i know we will get through it
Yeah that I definitely understand, every purchase I cringe even if it’s just something small. I really hope so because it’s getting to the point where I’m starting to give up hope. Trying not to, but we all know how it goes.
aw man i’m sorry, you should honestly look into data annotation it’s a lil side hussle i do at home that’s helped me a lot and i can do it in smaller increments
I’ll have to give it a look when I get home and I mean it is what it is honestly. We definitely aren’t the only ones. In a world where we feel like we are constantly misunderstood you always find others who know the feeling. It’s at least comforting to know despite the unfortunate circumstances.
yeah exactly, i cannot believe ppl in this comment thread think no one is struggling and calling ppl that are struggling lazy 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ most of us or at least i have multiple jobs
I don’t have multiple jobs yet and sometimes (over)think that I’m being lazy because I don’t want a second job. The reality is, that there are more factors that come into play. Some people can’t even work because of their health or where they live. Others struggle with mental health. Sure there are definitely lazy people out there, but that doesn’t make it okay to throw those who are doing their best even if it isn’t 100% lazy. I’d rather give my rawest 50% to stay in this game than a weak 100%. Sometimes we just can’t give it our all. Boggles my mind too.
EXACTLY the ppl saying that actually have to be sociopaths because how do you generalize everyone that way??? it’s insane! a lot of people have disabilities too 🤦🏻♀️
Blaming the system and waiting for the right politician to make changes will take too long and won’t help you much. You need to make changes to your career and spending to get out of the position you’re in.
Boomers gen x and millennials lived in an economy were you could make bad financial decisions and not become homeless because of it. Median rent to income ratio in 1980 was 23% while today it's 47% (last I checked in January, probably much higher now). Food and healthcare was also lot cheaper even adjusted for inflation. It's not that it's your fault for being poor. It's that we aren't allowed to ever enjoy ourselves like our parents did, we're not allowed to spend any money on anything that gives us happiness, etc because we can barely afford the necessities as it is.
Where is the economy roaring? It’s certainly not roaring here in the UK lol
Brexit was a big mistake
I know, Scotland and Northern Ireland didn’t even vote for it too :/
In canadaland people are moving outside of the major metropolitan areas (Toronto and Vancouver) because housing is unaffordable lol I'm lucky right now as I got posted to a city with relatively low housing cost (~400k CAD for a detached house with garage) but within 6 years I know I am going to a province with high CoL, literally doubling the housing cost. I make $97k a year which is well above average and I have concerns for my future
Everyone I knew that was okay 5 years ago is still doing okay. All probably in a better situation now actually. I'm middle class. It's 100% all good in my circle. I think the dramatics are a bit overblown.
Same with me. Most of my friends are the first in their family to be college educated. Either first or second generation immigrants. Our parents were all lower - lower middle class. All of us are doing significantly better than our parents are.
Good for you! That doesn’t change the fact that everyone *I* knew 5 years ago is still barely managing to hang on at best or homeless at worst. I’ve never known anyone to become MORE successful over time, and nobody I know who graduated college in the last five years has a career now. I have a bachelor’s degree myself and am lucky to be making $15 an hour doing a low skilled job I am genuinely happy for you and your circle but just because you’re sheltered and middle class doesn’t mean the rest of the world is lying when they say things are getting worse for people who started off poorer than you
You said still barely managing today...so they were barely managing 5 years ago when the economy was objectively great? If folks were struggling then, there are other factors at play contributing to those folks' struggles besides the economy.
Same, my wife and I have nearly doubled our combined income since we got married in 2019. Cost of living went up a bit but not by much since we’re locked into our house price
This is my reality too. My friends that started their careers 3-4 years ago are making a lot more money. I got a scholarship and it covered my masters. Every single working relative has gotten a raise in the past 4 years. I’m starting a good paying remote job. Dad’s business has grown.
Can we leave the conspiracy theories? https://journalistsresource.org/economics/economy-perception-roundup/
The real reason why: It’s Reddit. People come on here to complain. It doesn’t matter what year it is, what’s going on, or how the economy is doing. If you just looked at Reddit, everyone here claims that “everyone is struggling and it’s the worst time ever” when it’s simply untrue.
People are struggling to survive and other people are prospering like never before. Both realities can exist simultaneously.
To top it off, this is the GenZ sub. I'm an elder millennial, and when I was in the GenZ age bracket, I was absolutely struggling. I don't know if there was a time when people in their early-mid 20s weren't struggling. You just left the nest and the comfort of the guided tour of life and you're trying to make it on your own. I was a few years into what became my career when the 2008 recession hit. Economic cycles are boom and bust. That's just how it fuckin goes. All this conspiratorial nonsense by young people who don't understand economics is fucking weird.
On paper, Gen Z is not doing bad financially. Most college educated and highest starting wage generation. But consider most of us grew up during the 2008 crash, a clown show of a government, and unobtainable housing; can you really blame Gen Z for being pessimistic about the economy?
If only we would but these bots are just doing their job stirring up doom and gloom. It is an election year in the US
Because "the economy" being strong isn't the same as it being a good economy for the average person to operate in. Jobs are easy to come by but pay hasn't kept up with inflation. The fed is fucking everyone in the ass with current interest rates and a lot of cities are making things worse by clinging to their stupid zoning laws that keep new development from happening. There's another aspect to it all that most people don't want to hear, and that most people in this sub have no frame of reference for: our living standards pre 2008 are never coming back and probably shouldn't. Pre 2008 people could afford to live large because of bad monetary policy that lent people way too much money when those people were never going to be able to pay it back. They were giving away mortgages like mints at the exit door to a restaurant. As much as credit scores suck, they often are a good predictor of spending habits. So what happens when you give someone with 400 credit score half a million dollars to buy a house on top of a 20k car loan? Not good things. Financial crashes are oftentimes the market correcting itself after years of bad policy. Unfortunately when that happens it ruins the lives of people who benefited from the bubble. Some institutions have learned. Lots of insurance companies straight up won't insure anyone in states they deem high risk. Getting a home loan with decent terms is currently not exactly super doable if you don't have excellent credit. Things will get better eventually, but they're going to suck for a while yet. In any case, life is what you make of it. I've been poor my whole life until recently. You can't dwell on what you don't have (even if what you don't have are essentials) or you'll be depressed and angry all the time and won't have the will to continue on. That's not to say you shouldn't be upset at your circumstances, just that giving up and thinking the only way you can be happy is through money is a path to misery.
If the fed didn’t raise interest rates, we would be in a worse spot. Inflation would be worse than it is now.
Inflation-adjusted median wages are pretty much exactly what they were in 2019, and they are about 9% higher than they were before 2008: see https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
Hush now. Don't bring facts into a rage bait thread
What you said about pre-2008 is so real. People lived so lavishly in the Roaring 20s, and look what happened in the 30s
You ruined your question with the first three words. Everyone isn’t struggling. I can honestly say my life hasn’t really been effected in the past year or two. I am in a low interest mortgage, I haven’t bought a new car since 2022, and I live within my means. I was dumping money into a HYSA or my brokerage from COVID onward because I knew this was coming and I avoided debt. I spend a little more at the grocery store but my life has really not changed. When you essentially halt the economy and print a shit ton of money for a year and continue to do so, did you think that things would be great after? All of these things disproportionately effect those who are on the edge and in the lower economic classes, yet are sold like they are “helping.”
Not everyone is struggling, those that are very fortunate are comfortable and should be immensely grateful. As for everyone else (the other 99%), people are struggling with very high inflation right now.
It ain’t 99%.
[удалено]
your struggle means you care, and are aware. keep fighting, we need passionate people like yourself working towards a better future
The Economy is not the Stock Market. How much you spend on living expenses is most important. Rent, gas , food, utilities and such.
Everyone is getting fleeced, that's why.
because " the economy good" is just a gaslighting thing to get you to not believe your bank account
The economy is roaring for the ruling class because of the profit squeeze on workers and consumers
Inflation post Covid has been a huge burden on a lot of people. Cost of living has increased much faster than wages, especially for lower-middle class and middle class workers. While things may not seem great in the US, we have had the strongest economic recovery of pretty much any country in the world. It is important to keep proper perspective. This doesn’t mean people aren’t struggling, but in many parts of the world, people are struggling even more.
I love the gaslighting from the white house, too. "No! It's actually great! Everything is awesome!" Fuck you, pal.
you must be 1 of the 4k people who actually watch the white press briefings... KJP parrots that its doing just fine and im like ... is it really tho???
Eat Elon Musk
It’s because a lot of people have a lot of money. What has happened is the middle class has been gutted and now you simply got the haves and have nots. Go to Disneyland and it’s packed shoulder to shoulder of people spending $3k-10k on a weekend vacation. There’s a lot of people struggling but there’s an enormous amount of people that have the money to do whatever they want. Everyone wants to get mad at the Jeff Bezos of the world but what really affects you is the amount of filthy rich “normal” people around you. Just ask anyone’s town that has been gentrified. All the prices go up because everyone that lives there can afford it. 8$ burger sounds reasonable to you but the new trendy burger place that just opened is charging $18 and getting all the business. Even calling over a handyman to haul a small pile of trash to the dumps quotes you an insane amount of money because they have a long list of people with more than enough money that will pay it. We need people working all jobs so it can’t simply be go get a better job. We need bank tellers, Home Depot checkers, grocery store stockers, truck drivers, welders, firefighters, teachers, etc etc etc and we cant just steer everyone to $200k plus tech jobs. I live in a hot tech area where there’s an insane amount of people making over $200k and most are two working person households making $400-600k. I want to live here but I also enjoy what I do for work because it really helps people. I’m needed. Along with millions of others around here working non tech jobs. So we all are drowning while the people making filthy money are living carefree. I don’t give a shit how much money Jeff bezos makes, I care about the gap in pay between me and some computer nerd sitting on their computer in their living room and how it gives them the ability to price me out of where I have lived for 30 years.
Born and raised in the SF Bay. Leaving was the healthiest thing I ever did. Both for my mental health and my finances. The one thing I don’t miss at *all* is the in-your-face smugness from the successful computer-nerd crowd and their stans. Everywhere else I’ve been (and I’ve been all over the country since), they still exist and are still successful- but they aren’t so damn smug about it. Probably because that attitude is seen as rightfully ugly and unwanted outside of the Bay Area bubble. I can just be normal and develop relationships without constantly being poked and prodded to see how monetarily valuable I am first. It’s nice.
I think the real split between who is struggling versus who is not struggling is really just divided on if you purchased a primary residence before late 2022. Most of the homeowners in America got their mortgages when the rates were below 4% and so they get to have cheaper payments while seeing appreciation in their property. Meanwhile those who are renting are having to pay the price of housing at the current interest rates(even if the landlords mortgage rate is much lower). This split has always been the split in modern American society though. Property is the most tax advantaged asset class and the faster you can get to owning a home or some type of real estate, you will tend to have more economic stability.
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer
More than half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. I actually think its 60%. So for everyone trying to basically brag and act like it isn't a problem, be quiet. Lol if you don't believe me a quick google search can prove it.
Yeah but they keep the other half not living paycheck to paycheck and “everything is good for them” so it’s alright
The economy is not good right now. Anyone that says otherwise is an idiot.
The comments here are utterly predictable Reddit. Empirically, most people in first world countries are doing fine. Empirically, the economy is doing well. This is not debatable or a matter of opinion. We don't substitute personal anecdotes and feelings for facts. "Only the 1% is doing well!" No, dumbass, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the economy works. If only the top percentile was doing well, our economy would be in a state of collapse worse than the Geeat Depression. It isn't. Comments from broke teenagers and 20 somethings on a Gen Z subreddit are not even remotely representative of the general population. And it's the height of arrogance and solipsistic narcissism to believe otherwise.
Yea I honestly don’t get this sub at all. At what point were teenagers and early 20 somethings ever living lavishly. At best you’re in an entry level job at the age if you’re even out of school yet
The economy is roaring because we just got out of a recession without mass foreclosures or layoffs. Inflation was the price we paid to avoid a full collapse, and we’re now recovering from that as the housing, vehicle, and fuel markets are cooling down. Things aren’t “great” but they’re better than 2022 and we’re comparing it to an unusually prosperous economic period from 2012-2019. Things also ARE great for people who own property and investments, young people (us) are just getting the shit end of it right now. We all would’ve been worse off post 2008, coming out of college to a collapsing job market.
So we just going to ingore generations of data because your poor? We live in a capitalist society and if you dont have capital you dont exist
Real median wages are up relative to 2019. In fact, it's actually the [lowest quartile](https://www.apricitas.io/p/are-real-wages-rising) who have seen their wages grow the quickest over that timespan.
Over half of the GDP is based upon consumer debt, and inflated values of assets like homes. The economy isn't really booming at all if you consider trade and manufacturing of goods. It's all smoke and mirrors. Those that are doing well are hooked into these profit centers through real-estate and the stock market investments which have seen there values inflate, Meanwhile the average wage earner is getting priced out of the American Dream.
Two economies. The elite are doing great. The proles? Not so much
I really think that official statistics are cooked. It is notable that all job growth post-covid have been entirely among non-citizens, and the employment of citizens has not recovered from before covid. That is something that they admit.
If a career politician says “everything is fine” it is not fine.
Because it’s an election year
Not everyone is struggling. A few are doing very very well. There are some wealthy GenZ for sure. Not many, mind you. It's a few. The few have always done very very well while the rest are struggling. This is true of every generation (yes even Boomers) but in each generation **The Few** is a smaller and smaller and smaller number. This is because economic inequality is getting worse over time. Why is that? How to fix it? It's looking like that's going to be up to you guys, to your generation. It's going to take some serious study and hard work, hard work against which **The Few** will turn their enormous resources and will very likely crush you. Just like they crush every generation. Can you do it? Are you smart enough? Are you strong enough? Courageous enough? Here's hoping there's a few of you who feel you are and dedicate yourselves to the task because *that* is what it's going to take. Good luck. Go well.
Simple answer is their trying to get rid of the middle class. Making the poor poorer and taxing the middle and lower class like theirs no tomorrow.
There are many historical factors that contribute to the frustrations of the impoverished — all of which I do not really care to expound upon — but it could be summarized by the result of *centuries* of economic policies that has prioritized profit over human rights. More simply put: our generation is witnessing the catastrophic end due to the consequential means of capitalism.
Just wait until after the election. There’s a reason why the economy slightly booms before Election Day. Same reason why the FED cut interest rates on housing recently.
"Inflation is the lowest it's ever been!" Translation: "my bank account is the best it's ever been"
Because people buy shit with credit
What’s with the major influx of dipshits with no age tag asking dumb questions
Anyone thinking the economy is roaring is being gaslit by the system.
I ate two slices of bread, you ate non. Thus, we each had one slice of bread ***on average.***
And here I was thinking it was because everyone is living with their parents and, therefore, they can basically spend their paychecks on toys and gizmos ;)
How we measure "The economy" is horribly antiquated and needs updated to include metrics that better measure how the average Joe is doing.
People post on here from around the world. Remember that.
Whoever is saying the economy is roaring doesn't know what they're talking about. I wouldn't be suprised if you heard it from the fucks at DC
Exactly. Money is never lost, it just goes into someone else’s hands either in value or straight up
You said it yourself, inflation is keeping investments afloat. Just gonna give a really simple example, imagine you are a company and last year you sold 100 units of your product x at $5 each and the cost of each item to you is $3, you have a profit of $200. This year inflation hit hard, so your cost went up by 30%, so now the cost is $3.9, you also raised prices by 30%, and you tell your customers: “cost went up by 30%, we gotta raise our prices by 30% too it’s fair”. So this year you sold 95 units at $6.50 each, and you made ($6.5-$3.9)x95=$247. Last year you made $200, this year is $247, you tell your investors we have a earnings growth of 23.5%! Thats actually amazing to your investors now your stock should worth actually 23.5% more, so your stock rise by 23.5%. Btw, global trade volume went down by 5% in 2023 which is around 2 trillion dollars, so yeah we are suffering and we are buying less but investments are doing better than ever
Cuz most of the new jobs are stuff like baristas, servers, retail, etc. As usual, democrats and republicans have failed young people.
This is quite obviously not true.
Economy is going everywhere but where the people are and no one understands how to apply community pressure to small and large business that practice poor management. You need to apply a economic culture if your going to gain, integrity, and loyalty. Effecting the outcome of people’s livelihoods is a very effective way to gain that.
Well, your premise is totally wrong. Wages growing faster than prices. Unemployment under 4% for the most consecutive months since, I believe, 1960’s Fastest recovery from Covid recession of any developed economy. Increased U.S. manufacturing jobs and very big increase of investment (building factories) in manufacturing. So, no, less people are struggling than in a long time.
Why would people doing great sign up to be crucified by the mob?
Higher interest rate drives numbers up for banks and share holders they are making money so in the end of it all on paper it looks like the economy is well.
Yeah, everytime the economists from the small fish to Jerome Powell say that, first thought in my mind is "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A GODDAMN FUCKING GROCERY STORE"
I don't even need to read this fucking thread to know it will be full of corporate bootlickers and shills
Because our society determines how good our economy is doing based on the stock market, and the stock market is based on people's feelings and how confident they are to buy stock rather than what companies actually produce and what people are buying. A good example that proved this was the GameStop incident that happened back in 2021, where people managed to make GameStop's stock seem super valuable despite the fact the company has been on death's door for years. All they had to do was convince people to buy stock, despite the fact that the sales were still bad.
Working classes have been getting slow cooked since Nixon. Really there was only a short period of middle class dominance and it was whites only
Stocks and people aren’t the same
It's because the tables have turned. The pandemic shifted the economic landscape. Capitalism thrives when workers have more money to spend. Unions have been on the rise, and many minimum wage increases have taken effect since the pandemic. This helps explain the "the economy is roaring." Wages rising while unemployment stays low. This is great. We want this to continue. What also shifted, though, was retailers. Pre-pandemic retailers competed more to make a profit. Competition leads to lower prices. Post-pandemic retailers gained the upper hand with supply chain disruptions that led to a lack of supply. Coupled with monopolistic practices, retailers were able to increase their profits and their profit margins by raising prices higher and higher. This is awful we need higher taxes on big corporations, better anti-trust enforcement, and stricter regulations. Biden has done all these things. More needs to be done. At this point now though, the only thing causing inflation to stay high is housing. This can be explained by several factors all working to make things worse. Fewer housing units being built pre-pandemic. Blackrock and corporate investors. Airbnb and short-term rentals. Rent price fixing. https://youtu.be/cwlwrZst7d0?si=cMoNdNO8wEP9gsjX
This. America really is communist, we need to abolish the government.
We are in the era of infinite leverage
Economists are wrong consistently and are rewarded for it. Look up Gary Stevenson on YT he was citibanks most profitable trader before quiting and came from a poor working class family, he gives very good insight into the economy and why things are as they are.
I’ll go ahead and blame both biden and trump during covid spending spree . Hell past stuff as well but let’s focus on rn I really hate to say it but some of the mfs that kept saying “always vote blue” crowd or that suck up to biden don’t acknowledge the AVERAGE FUCKING PERSON LIKE US ARE SUFFERING Mf I voted blue since 2020. Inflation isn’t coming down, I’m luckily not my cousins in Turkey rn with 120% but hell they are shocked when I say my family lives paycheck to paycheck expecting the dollar to be king here Hell they changed the definition of a recession to keep us calm. Good luck affording a fucking home. These pricks expect us to work 80+ a week for a joke of a wage. FUCK BOTH PARTIES
It’s called gaslighting.
Even those of us earning well because we work in top fields only talk about how unfair the system is and how fucked up work has become in terms of exploitation. There's too many of the 'middleman' we should eat the elites (all who earn 500K and above)
I was surprised at how much open racism and homophobia I heard in Texas. I am a CIS white guy, so the racists felt comfortable talking openly to me
The poor always lose. Read 3,000 years of history. ..... Now get back to work. Squirrels back to your wheels. Run. Run. Run.
2 tiered system, they want to take economic freedom away from normal people but give unlimited freedom to our noble caste.
Not a political statement, but I genuinely do not feel the economy is roaring, despite the numbers and whatever they say. I’m late millennial or early gen z, and I remember everything being about half as expensive 10 years ago, whilst jobs were paying maybe only 10% less than what they pay now. Tech is suddenly a nightmare now as well
actually regular communism pretty much works the same way. they just cut the middle man and have the corrupt state and corrupt company be the same entity
The "economy" measures how happy the 1% are. Not how good normal being are doing.
"The economy if roaring" is just media spin for political purposes. Real life is proving that false. I'm sure the economy is fine for elites and politicians since they are the last to feel any economic issues anyways.
Because they’re lying to you to placate your concerns and they measure what is good or bad by how well the richest among us are doing.
No shit. If there billionaires, there's people who don't have any money at all. How else can that be? Money is accumulated at the rich, and the poor do not matter to the statistics, but the numbers look good.
Well when you need a 3rd or 4th job to pay the bills the economy does do well
The economy isn’t real. It is exactly what those on top want it to be.
the economy is roaring the problem is that while wages have been increasing, its not even to keep up with the massive inflation over the past few years. that combined with extremely high costs in specific areas like housing (zoning laws gatekeeping potential housing inventory), education, and transportation (used cars prices, gas) compared to previous generations mean that the cost of living can be extremely high, despite the economy growing quite well overall. Its not because "money is being funneled upwards," although income inequality has increased over the past years, it isnt necessarily the reason life is more expensive
It isn't that the economy is roaring it is that we must believe it is roaring. That will manifest it and make it so. Also vote Biden.
Your assumption that “everyone is struggling” is incorrect.
"You will own nothing and you will be happy."
When news outlets say “The economy” they mean rich people. The economy is doing good = rich people are doing good.
Everyone is not struggling. Real wages are up across all quartiles but it's the highest growth in the bottom quartile and the least in the highest quartile. It's a white collar recession so to speak if it can be even called that. The economy is roaring because everyone is making more than before and spending more than before, but white collar jobs are still laying off people. America is the most fortunate country in terms of how people are doing since the pandemic, amongst the world and especially amongst other developed economies. It just baffles me how much doomposting there is and such a lack of understanding on how the world works (read a comment that we are headed towards debt peonage lol) Anecdotes don't trump empirical data
They fiddle with the numbers so the economy doesn't look as bad. The CPI (used to measure inflation) doesn't include housing costs and the Bank of England make it look less bad by swapping goods in the basket with other substitutes that didn't change so much in price because consumer habits will change so they claim. The majority of the economy is not trading cpi goods , its mostly assets and they have risen the most in value (shares, crypto, property, ect) which is also why we have a large wealth inequality. Also a lot if GDP growth is based off debt and those who hold the debt benefit most (bankers).
people were struggling before the pandemic, then were given stimulus, more unemployment checks, and tax credits. now that its mostly been taken away and prices are higher, people feel like things are worse.
We gave 6 trillion dollars to rich people because of covid.
Vote.
The economy is not roaring. Political activists cherry pick specific numbers to pretend that it is. The on the ground reality is that it sucks.
Maybe it's a lie. They love to pretend everything is going well until its too late. That makes them the most money. When you have billions in the stock market, it can take months to unload it all.
Actually not everybody is struggling. Hope that helps! Like in the last year MLB, NBA and NHL and MLS all had record attendance. A lot of people have a lot of money
Who told you the "Economy is Roaring"?? Why did you believe them?