I believe that most people have largely been seeing their wages keeping pace. It’s the disconnect between seeing their wages rise and not seeing any increase in purchasing power that’s leading people to think that the economy is bad. But–again–this is stagflation. With a combination of factors, it feels really bad, even though most people are not objectively worse off than they were. And, compared to the height of the pandemic (which was all Trump!), the vast majority of people are doing far, far better than they were. What I mean by people aren’t worse off is that you aren’t seeing a sharp rise in indicators of economic distress, like people defaulting on mortgages or car loans. But–again–it feels bad because it’s easy to remember when a box of cereal was $7 instead of $10.
When you talk about wages v. productivity, then no, wages don’t even come close to tracking.
We are seeing economic indicators of distress. Most Americans have no savings, spend closer to half their income on housing, have most bankruptcies due to medical bills, can’t pay their student loans…
You’re talking about bad financial decisions not economic distress. Yeah, people aren’t getting home loans they can default on because they can’t get the loan, it’s like 5%+ on houses 4x their value a decade ago.
You’re talking about the finance bro shit not the working class shit. Sure the finance bros are fine but it’s no wonder the working class doesn’t want to do this for the sake of the finance bros.
Love that you totally ignore the wages v. income. Ha.
You’re talking about bad financial decisions not economic distress
I would hardly call getting a car a “bad financial decision”, given that cars are a practical necessity in the US. Fundamentally, people right now are doing better than they were four years ago. The data backs this up.
The housing shortage traces back almost directly to the pandemic. The first house I bought was in 2013-ish, and houses were cheap because enormous numbers of people had defaulted on mortgages after the 2008 crash. There was also an enormous supply as a result. Construction halted during the pandemic as building supplies dried up, and unemployment skyrocketed. Now that wages have been rising, you have too many people bidding on too few houses, which drives up costs. Once–if–housing supply catches up to demand, you can expect to see prices fall again. Anecdotally, there was a lot of farmland around me that had been bulldozed shortly before the pandemic, and then it just sat, with pretty signs touting the development that was going to go in. It’s only been in the past four years that they’ve started building again, and they’re almost full now.
You’re talking about the finance bro shit not the working class shit.
Hate to state the obvious, but these things are, in fact, linked. The finance bros don’t exist in a vacuum where labor magically happens that they can skim profits from.
Love that you totally ignore the wages v. income. Ha.
You never mentioned wages vs income so hard to not ignore it.
There is no housing shortage, there is a housing as a service boom.
It’s not linked, you’re just lost in the sauce and assume they are. No wonder you can’t understand how deflation would benefit those on a fixed income unable to build savings or wealth.
The data you linked was not incorrect; however it is irrelevant when people are living paycheck to paycheck more now than ever (in modern times). If you’re living paycheck to paycheck with no investments you are not relying on inflation to add to investment return. If you were to bring up cats when talking about cars I would likely disregard it as well.
They really don’t. Especially now-a-days.
source
I believe that most people have largely been seeing their wages keeping pace. It’s the disconnect between seeing their wages rise and not seeing any increase in purchasing power that’s leading people to think that the economy is bad. But–again–this is stagflation. With a combination of factors, it feels really bad, even though most people are not objectively worse off than they were. And, compared to the height of the pandemic (which was all Trump!), the vast majority of people are doing far, far better than they were. What I mean by people aren’t worse off is that you aren’t seeing a sharp rise in indicators of economic distress, like people defaulting on mortgages or car loans. But–again–it feels bad because it’s easy to remember when a box of cereal was $7 instead of $10.
When you talk about wages v. productivity, then no, wages don’t even come close to tracking.
We are seeing economic indicators of distress. Most Americans have no savings, spend closer to half their income on housing, have most bankruptcies due to medical bills, can’t pay their student loans…
You’re talking about bad financial decisions not economic distress. Yeah, people aren’t getting home loans they can default on because they can’t get the loan, it’s like 5%+ on houses 4x their value a decade ago.
You’re talking about the finance bro shit not the working class shit. Sure the finance bros are fine but it’s no wonder the working class doesn’t want to do this for the sake of the finance bros.
Love that you totally ignore the wages v. income. Ha.
I would hardly call getting a car a “bad financial decision”, given that cars are a practical necessity in the US. Fundamentally, people right now are doing better than they were four years ago. The data backs this up.
The housing shortage traces back almost directly to the pandemic. The first house I bought was in 2013-ish, and houses were cheap because enormous numbers of people had defaulted on mortgages after the 2008 crash. There was also an enormous supply as a result. Construction halted during the pandemic as building supplies dried up, and unemployment skyrocketed. Now that wages have been rising, you have too many people bidding on too few houses, which drives up costs. Once–if–housing supply catches up to demand, you can expect to see prices fall again. Anecdotally, there was a lot of farmland around me that had been bulldozed shortly before the pandemic, and then it just sat, with pretty signs touting the development that was going to go in. It’s only been in the past four years that they’ve started building again, and they’re almost full now.
Hate to state the obvious, but these things are, in fact, linked. The finance bros don’t exist in a vacuum where labor magically happens that they can skim profits from.
You never mentioned wages vs income so hard to not ignore it.
There is no housing shortage, there is a housing as a service boom.
It’s not linked, you’re just lost in the sauce and assume they are. No wonder you can’t understand how deflation would benefit those on a fixed income unable to build savings or wealth.
Wages v. Inflation; typo on my end. And it was right there in the link.
The data you linked was not incorrect; however it is irrelevant when people are living paycheck to paycheck more now than ever (in modern times). If you’re living paycheck to paycheck with no investments you are not relying on inflation to add to investment return. If you were to bring up cats when talking about cars I would likely disregard it as well.