225 points

Maybe it’s that the “US economy” and it’s metrics are severely detached from the American people. Unless we’re still on this corporations are people too bullshit

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97 points

So very much all of this. Just because corpo America, the 1% and the fake numbers stock market are doing good means nothing for the average American.

Our wages are stagnate. Our healthcare either kills you or bankrupts you. Our housing is prohibitively expensive. Our food is to expensive to eat. Our education system doesn’t educate and is slowly privatizing. And our police are killing us in lieu of protecting us.

But we’ve got guns for tot’s, piles of dead school children, an insurrectionist running for president, insurrectionists in congress facing zero consequences, a fading separation of church and state. Rising hate crime numbers. And a corrupt Supreme Court openly accepting bribes to destroy democracy.

Yeah Joey everything is sunshine and rainbows.

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4 points

That healthcare bit hit home. Been trying to get treatment for 9 months. Docs spent a lot of my money doing nothing. I got tired of trusting, read peer journals, put together my own plan using promising options, have the first actual sustained relief I’ve seen since last May.

$100 OTC versus like $6000 in tests, scans, and fuckery.

I guess it beats the NHS, partner can’t even get seen for a fractured vertebrae. “Do PT first.”

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1 point

Back when Joe was a kid he had to walk to school shootings and it was uphill, both ways!

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1 point

No snow? No hot potato to keep the frostbite at bay? No hail? No wonder he is such a wuss!

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1 point

*too

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34 points

Economy Good: The majority of people work their asses off to make a handful even richer.

Economy Bad: The majority of people suffer even more so the handful of people does not have to suffer a bit.

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3 points

Oh we’re still on that bullshit, and until we can repeal Citizens United, it’s going to be that bullshit. How about instead of talkin’ shit about how stupid it is, we find a way to undo it?

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2 points

Maybe is Maybeline

Or

Maybe is that the wealthiest 10% of Americans own 89% of all U.S. stocks

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120 points

Because most Americans can’t afford to loose a week of pay?

Because it’s a zero-sum game and most Americans are losing so rich fucks can have their “good economy”.

Biden is so fucking out of touch it’s embarrassing.

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67 points
*

it’s a zero-sum game and most Americans are losing so rich fucks can have their “good economy”.

That does seem to be what his rhetoric is pointing at:

“But for all we’ve done to bring prices down, there are still too many corporations in America ripping people off. Price gouging, junk feeds, greedflation, shrinkflation,” Biden added.

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-10 points
*

“bring prices down”? Does Biden think we’re in a deflationary period or is he intentionally misleading people?

EDIT: It’s weird how when people ask why prices haven’t come down they’re mocked for not understanding the difference between deflation and lower inflation. But when the president of the United States confuses them and I point it out I get down voted. Classy people. Classy.

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7 points

It’s not allowed to discuss “bring wages up.” Only impossibilities of putting the genie back in the bottle such as this. That way Biden can continue to deliver on his most important promise to donors - nothing will fundamentally change.

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2 points

The latter or both.

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15 points

Polling suggests this is not the case. In December there was a poll of swing states that showed the people were split 50/50 on whether what they saw in their own lives, their local or city economy, was heading in the right direction but when asked about the national economy, something they have to rely upon the media for rather than their own experience, only 1 in 4 thought things were heading in the right direction. People are constantly fed negative economic propaganda but don’t see it in their own communities so they assume it’s happening everywhere else.

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44 points

Polling is opinion, and they all have varied (and usually terrible) reasons for their opinions. But some telling statistics?

nearly half of Americans have little to no savings , while 89% of Americans save, the average savings is ~1000, and 60% don’t have a retirement account

60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

About 50% of people under 65 have trouble affording healthcare- with insurance

All while corporations are netting record profits despite all this.

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15 points
*

I get my credit score up through tricks of the trade, get whatever procedure I need on credit, and then don’t pay at all, because I can’t afford basic medical even though I work, for above minimum wage no less. They want too much for essential medical treatments, so now I have to do this to survive, I just hope that between every 2 years when my credit tricks work again, that I don’t get mysteriously ill with no way to pay. I tried everything. I work 40 hours and live in a very basic tract home built in the 90s with roommates, I sell things on the side, my old man does repairs/handyman services, we don’t shop, or go on dates, or get to enjoy life really at all outside the home, hell, I’ve even tried selling porn; but apparently I’m not hot enough to pull that off either. And to top off this absolutely lack of sundae; I work enough to not qualify for any assistance despite all the above details keeping me stuck renting/working a shit job until something breaks or I get sick or somebody dies. I know some of y’all are gonna hate me for this, but I didn’t create this broken economy where $10-$30 a month for insurance is an unaffordable expense on top of copays and deductibles and all the BS to make sure you never use the service they’ve made you purchase… When is enough gonna be enough? Then our leaders have the balls to ask why we’re upset? Give me a damn break.

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5 points

Oh no, more negative propaganda! Better hide it before it shows up in the polls! 🙄

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14 points

Does anyone under the age of 50 respond to polling calls/emails? Polls are shit for actual representation nowadays and are mainly used as a way to influence rather than gauge.

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2 points

Yeah, but have you met anyone from Wisconsin?

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2 points

Went to a wedding in Milwaukee last summer, it wasn’t terrible. I wouldn’t want to be there in the winter, I’m content to stay in California. I was on the college side, but it seemed like a slightly larger Redding/Chico area. A lot more brick, closer to a major city, and with more local national level sports teams. The locals seemed nice enough, I enjoyed the first generation immigrants running their cafes.

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1 point

On the contrary, the fastest growth in real income right now is among those in the lowest quintile. Which means income inequality is actually decreasing for the first time in decades.

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14 points

Maybe in a few decades people will feel better about it.

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4 points

Well said! Very well said.

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12 points

“Fastest growing in real income” sounds really fancy.

But it’s a bit misleading. I assume you’re looking at percentage gains. For someone working 40 hrs/week 42 weeks a year, a dollar raise (which is huge for that “lowest quintile”), would equate to a bit more than 2,000 per year.

At federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr, that dollar gain represents an increase of 13%. At 15 an hour, its a 6% gain. At 200k/year? Barely a percent. For Walmart CEO, for example, who’s salary is 24.1 million is barely even worth mentioning at .08%.

Said another way, Walmart has 2.2 million “associates” which iirc, is everyone whose not a manager. Let’s say 3 million people who aren’t corporate because I don’t care to go get the accurate stats and frankly want to keep the math easy.

So if they gave them all a 1 dollar raise, that would cost Walmart 3 million dollars. Last year, Walmarts annual gross profit was 147.568 billion, with a 2.65% increase over ‘22. An increase of 3.8 billion dollars.

You know the difference between a million and a billion? About a billion. That hypothetical dollar increase would have been a rounding error on their financial statements.

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5 points
*

So if they gave them all a 1 dollar raise, that would cost Walmart 3 million dollars.

I think your numbers are off. It would cost $3m to give 3m workers a bump of exactly one dollar on exactly one paycheck. That’s not a 13% increase. It’s not even a 0.01% increase.

If you actually wanted to increase the wage of 3m full time workers from $7.25 to $8.25, it would cost $6 billion.

Walmarts annual gross profit was 147.568 billion

This isn’t really relevant. Gross profit is Walmart sales minus what it paid manufacturers for its products. So if it buys a TV for $200 and sells it for $300, that’s $100 in gross profit.

Gross profit is used to pay employees, rent, utilities, advertisers, etc. The amount left over after paying the bills is the operating income. Then they pay taxes on that, and the actual earnings (aka net income) are left over.

Nearly all of Walmart’s gross profit was used to pay employees, etc. Their operating income was $23 billion in 2023, which is a decrease of 20% from the previous year. Of note, this coincides with pay increases for Walmart’s hourly workers, from $17.50 to $18/hr on average.

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4 points

That just shows that the economy is not “booming” as they say in the capitalist media - the needle may be moving in the right direction, but we need to acknowledge that the current position of that needle is deep in the gutter, with a lot of improvement still needed before the voting public feels like the economy is actually working for them. Claiming that the economy is doing well, when the people are not doing well economically except for a handful of ultrawealthy, causes feelings of resentment and alienation in people who are currently working hard and still unable to afford basic necessities, ie the majority of Americans. It makes the journalists and the politicians they appear to be hyping seem out of touch and unaware of the problems the voters are dealing with, and therefore it does not inspire hope that those problems are being worked on.

Showing that the needle is moving in the right direction is an important component of effective messaging, but so is demonstrating a clear eyed view of the problem. Articles that talk about how ‘strong’ the economy is fail on the latter.

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83 points
*

#1 Rent and housing - costs of housing are unsustainable

#2 Affordable transit - prices and sizes of cars are unsustainable

#3 All other cost of living - people buying groceries on emergency funds

Nearly all of this can be pointed at a number of big business cartel-like behavior: Air BNB, Price Fixing, Layoffs, Inexplicably high corporate profits, fraud and abusive behavior by individuals and businesses.

Fund the welfare state for god’s sake.

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22 points

Fund the welfare state for god’s sake.

Not gonna happen; why do you think they sacked Bernie twice in the primaries?

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13 points

It will never happen if people just say “it’ll never happen” instead of joining the voices and being an advocate for that change!

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8 points

By the time it does happen all the rioters in the streets will be geriatric

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3 points
*

Unfortunately, a small handful of voices with large pocketbooks are the only ones they listen to.

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0 points

You mean I actually have to DO something instead of just sharing my opinion on the internet?!?

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-11 points

#1 I am inclined to agree I just bought a crummy cottage because I couldn’t afford rent

#2 I agree they are selling affordable EVs in China, but they are under tariffs, and nobody else is selling really affordable basic cars

#3 I kinda disagree… Granted I really only shop at places like Aldi/Walmart because standard grocers are very pricey. Prices aren’t all that bad overall.

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63 points

prices went up, my wages didnt.

Also I’m medically not doing well but I dont make enough money to qualify for financial help with health insurance

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14 points

Wait until you read about how shitty our tax law is for people spending most of their money on HC costs. sigh

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5 points

My wages did go up a little, but not enough to help me out of the hole I’m in with everything else going up (rent, groceries, etc.). Gas prices have gone down, but not by a lot, at least not for me in California. Why are prices still at like $4.30/gallon when we’re pumping more than ever out of the ground and plenty of supply? Why didn’t it go back down to like $3.50? Is this just our new baseline? Why?

Everything is like that. I feel like I’ll just end up dying of poverty if we don’t actually gain some consumer protections to limit how much companies to upcharge on literally everything, and ban companies or internationals from buying up properties. At this rate, I feel like I’ll struggle this hard forever and never be able to buy a house unless I move somewhere super shitty without actual rights for women.

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49 points

“The US economy” means “the flow of money for the rich minority of people” that’s why. I work at least 50 hours a week and still can’t make ends meet because my partner is severely underemployed by a corporation who won’t schedule her enough hours for the amount of work she’s expected to do, she doesn’t have adequate health insurance, I’m watching it destroy her body before my fucking eyes exactly the same way her mother died before her and am stuck at my own shitty job figuring out what the fuck I’m gonna do about it if and the worst comes to pass.

Fuck this economy, burn it to the ground

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12 points

One of the richest countries on Earth. SMH

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5 points

The richest country to ever exist lol

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5 points

Smell that freedom! Smells like medical bills…

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1 point

The land of the fee

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