Here's the thing about the "democracy is in peril" talking point: anybody opposing the fascist party can make it. The economy, as per conventional wisdom, is chained directly to Joe Biden. As such, I have to co-sign ol' Crab Dip here:
Too bad we can't repeal the Tax Cuts for Rich Fuckwads in order to provide more people healthcare, rental assistance, home care assistance, down payment assistance, food assistance, you name it. There's a down payment assistance program for low-income folks here in CA that spent down the $288 million in only 11 DAYS.
I do think a big part of the problem is the vast wealth inequality that we all see getting worse, not better. Too many people are barely scraping by while a handful of rich white fuckheads have so much money they can blow $44 billion destroying a social media platform or doing vanity trips to space (Bezos).
Part of the reason why my eyes glaze over when I read things like this is that I can't remember a time in my working life when I ever assumed I would someday be able to buy a house, or retire. I'm solidly middle aged now, and I still don't see a future where I'll ever be able to do either of those things. I have a terminal degree, and I didn't have to endure poverty while growing up--I had the advantage of a comfortable start in the American middle class in the late 20th century. And in a way that seems particular to my cursed generation, none of that really seems to have mattered much in the long run. I was able to stay alive and relatively hale because I or someone close to me could provide health insurance, but I have no conceivable way to provide elder care in return, and no signs that will ever change. All that I have to my name is a mountain of debt so big it doesn't even really bother me because I can't think about it in concrete terms.
However they "feel" they would be idiots to think republicans will make ANYTHING better. Even those complaining should have self awareness enough to see roads and bridges being fixed! Also who do they think took away the Child Tax Credits? Why are "they" not capable of logical analysis?
Doesn't matter. If things suck, the only possible move is kicking the bums out. One of the problems of the two-party system: if the halfway sane party in power is dropping the ball, the only beneficiaries are the insane party. Ontario found that out in 2018.
I know- when you contact people and ask about how they are doing financially
they are going to bitch.
I was in Lowe's last Sunday around noon. I needed to pick up a vacuum cleaner belt, paint brushes and some water softener salt. The place was crowded! Some kind of big appliance sale was going on - people were waiting for an associate to help them . They seem to be pretty well staffed. I don't think anyone was waiting very long. I was in the vacuum section looking to find a belt. They had a whole bay full of roomba style floor cleaners. Those things ain't cheap! Prices start at $275 but if you want you can spend eleven hundred bucks easy ! They were all in stock .There were three different couples shopping them . Everybody there was white and they seemed very well fed . It was Sunday afternoon so I imagine that quite a few of them , when they were done with their Appliance shopping,would get in their new giant pick-up trucks (the sixty thousand dollar kind)and make their way over to the Golden Corral buffet for Sunday dinner. There they can sit down with their families amidst the heaping plates of food and discuss how downtrodden they are .
The media is gearing up for another “economic anxiety” narrative in case Trump wins in 2024. Can’t acknowledge the fact that a large segment of America supports Trump because they are racist as fuck.
I think (at least privately) the media does acknowledge that, they just don't know what to do about it. Most liberals don't have any ideas beyond calling racists "racists" on social media. Which accomplishes nothing.
I'm in a bracket that never really benefits economically from policies by the right or the left. Somewhat below the median income, but able to pay my expenses and put a bit away from each check. I prefer supporting Democrats because their policies generally do help more people than just the top 10%.
My first mortgage was at 10% APR. Next one was 8%. I bought my current house with a 6% loan, and recently got it adjusted to 2.8%. There are still programs available to poorer folks like me to buy homes. It's worth it to find out how.
David Leonhardt offers an orderly assessment of the GOP's scrambled economic "policy" (such as it is):
"The WSJ editorial page represents an outlook that dominated the Republican Party from Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s until Trump’s arrival in 2016. It favors an approach that’s variously described as laissez-faire, small-government and neoliberal. It includes light regulation, low taxes, cuts to government benefits and high levels of trade and immigration. Its patron saint is Milton Friedman, who argued that free-market capitalism is the best way to lift living standards.
The problem for the laissez-faire advocates is that many of their predictions have not come true. [SHOCKEDSHOCKEDFACE]
Income growth for most Americans has been sluggish since the Reagan Revolution. Only the affluent have enjoyed healthy gains in income and wealth. Other measures of living standards look even worse. In 1980, life expectancy in the U.S. was typical for an industrialized country; today, it is lower than in Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea or any large country in Western Europe.
Some laissez-faire advocates claim that these statistics are all misleading and that the past several decades have in fact been a glorious period of prosperity. But most Americans disagree, polls show. Even many Republican voters disagree.
This dissatisfaction created the opening for Trump to take over the Republican Party while calling for less trade and immigration and promising to protect Medicare and Social Security. [...] A few, including Nikki Haley, have opted for Reaganism. Most high-profile younger Republican leaders have not. Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance are among the Republican senators who have called for trade restrictions or other government actions to lift incomes."
ALL the 2024 GOP hopefuls, except the idiots, are being extremely extremely quiet right now. There is zero benefit in getting in front of the cameras to say anything pro or con about Trump, if you're a Republican. So you're not going to hear from Haley, Hawley, Rubio, etc. for the next couple of months.
Tim Scott is trying to ride a Moment, but he will probably fade. Cruz and Christie are doing their best to pretend they're not likely to be called as witnesses in a conspiracy trial next spring - reminding voters of just how complicit they were in 1/6. Pence doesn't have that luxury, so he's going public with his new spine implant. DeSantis is the classic weak horse who breaks fast out of the gate in order to try to get a long lead but isn't going to make it to the backstretch.
Aug 7, 2023·edited Aug 7, 2023Liked by Stephen Robinson
"Consumer confidence" is "Should I buy a dishwasher?"
It doesn't overlap well with a quotidian sense of approval, which goes to "Why is milk STILL 20 cents too high???"
The misery index is declining because we are getting used to our new normal, including those milk prices. That will continue as we approach the election.
The problem is that it won't actually settle in until about two years from now. Gods be good, that will be Joe's second term, but until then we can't run on the future.
After all, the song is "Happy days are here again", not "Happier days are portending by all metrics".
Joe has to run on "Things are getting better and I will keep us on that course for the whole economy...but I know that things are also still not where you need them to be and that's why I will also be working on the real-life problems you deal with. That's why getting the price of insulin down was so important. Now, let's talk about those damn junk fees you hate - I'm gonna get rid of those!..."
"Joe has to run on "Things are getting better and I will keep us on that course for the whole economy...but I know that things are also still not where you need them to be and that's why I will also be working on the real-life problems you deal with. That's why getting the price of insulin down was so important. Now, let's talk about those damn junk fees you hate - I'm gonna get rid of those!..."
Really? I haven't bought any recently, but I think a gallon of Lactaid at my supermarket is $5.49, and I see convenience stores posting that they're selling milk for $3.49/gallon, which around here is slightly less than gasoline. If you don't mind mentioning, approximately where are you?
Weird. I'm in the outer suburbs, close enough that I can train in (and did for several years). Is this just a case of the local corner stores/bodegas charging whatever they think they can get away with?
No question. But also, the objective reality too is that food is a lot more expensive as a percentage of a regular household budget than it was before Covid, and prices have not come down. So it's both the inchoate feelings we have about the economy and the sticker shock of trying to buy a gallon of milk.
Negative views on the economy are hard baked. It will take time for voters to accept a new reality, just in time for the election. All is well; they know what they're doing.
as someone who lives this 24/7, the fall of the stock market is greatly related to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. When there is world instability, investors hold on to their money, and as is known to people in these sectors, the biotech industry, as a canary in the coal mine for investment, took a serious hit, still ongoing.
It's also still fallout from the quarantine, with the understanding that Covid waves are going to happen every winter, and if China shuts down, our supply chain goes off the rails.
On the flip side, the gradual improvement in employment, wage rates, and relatively stable inflation without recession are due in part to reduced dependence on oil - which is finally beginning to show its good effects - and a genuine peace dividend since 2021.
Here's the thing about the "democracy is in peril" talking point: anybody opposing the fascist party can make it. The economy, as per conventional wisdom, is chained directly to Joe Biden. As such, I have to co-sign ol' Crab Dip here:
https://twitter.com/cushbomb/status/1686522088528756736
Too bad we can't repeal the Tax Cuts for Rich Fuckwads in order to provide more people healthcare, rental assistance, home care assistance, down payment assistance, food assistance, you name it. There's a down payment assistance program for low-income folks here in CA that spent down the $288 million in only 11 DAYS.
I do think a big part of the problem is the vast wealth inequality that we all see getting worse, not better. Too many people are barely scraping by while a handful of rich white fuckheads have so much money they can blow $44 billion destroying a social media platform or doing vanity trips to space (Bezos).
It's literally insane that some people have billions while others EVEN THOSE WHO ARE WORKING, can't get a fucking lease.
I'm sorry I could scream about this shit.
No problem, I too could scream about this shit.
Part of the reason why my eyes glaze over when I read things like this is that I can't remember a time in my working life when I ever assumed I would someday be able to buy a house, or retire. I'm solidly middle aged now, and I still don't see a future where I'll ever be able to do either of those things. I have a terminal degree, and I didn't have to endure poverty while growing up--I had the advantage of a comfortable start in the American middle class in the late 20th century. And in a way that seems particular to my cursed generation, none of that really seems to have mattered much in the long run. I was able to stay alive and relatively hale because I or someone close to me could provide health insurance, but I have no conceivable way to provide elder care in return, and no signs that will ever change. All that I have to my name is a mountain of debt so big it doesn't even really bother me because I can't think about it in concrete terms.
However they "feel" they would be idiots to think republicans will make ANYTHING better. Even those complaining should have self awareness enough to see roads and bridges being fixed! Also who do they think took away the Child Tax Credits? Why are "they" not capable of logical analysis?
Doesn't matter. If things suck, the only possible move is kicking the bums out. One of the problems of the two-party system: if the halfway sane party in power is dropping the ball, the only beneficiaries are the insane party. Ontario found that out in 2018.
I know- when you contact people and ask about how they are doing financially
they are going to bitch.
I was in Lowe's last Sunday around noon. I needed to pick up a vacuum cleaner belt, paint brushes and some water softener salt. The place was crowded! Some kind of big appliance sale was going on - people were waiting for an associate to help them . They seem to be pretty well staffed. I don't think anyone was waiting very long. I was in the vacuum section looking to find a belt. They had a whole bay full of roomba style floor cleaners. Those things ain't cheap! Prices start at $275 but if you want you can spend eleven hundred bucks easy ! They were all in stock .There were three different couples shopping them . Everybody there was white and they seemed very well fed . It was Sunday afternoon so I imagine that quite a few of them , when they were done with their Appliance shopping,would get in their new giant pick-up trucks (the sixty thousand dollar kind)and make their way over to the Golden Corral buffet for Sunday dinner. There they can sit down with their families amidst the heaping plates of food and discuss how downtrodden they are .
Ain't That America?
The media is gearing up for another “economic anxiety” narrative in case Trump wins in 2024. Can’t acknowledge the fact that a large segment of America supports Trump because they are racist as fuck.
I think (at least privately) the media does acknowledge that, they just don't know what to do about it. Most liberals don't have any ideas beyond calling racists "racists" on social media. Which accomplishes nothing.
A lot people in the media know it. They’re just not allowed to say it out loud.
“Democrats might have even held the House if New York Democrats hadn’t been too sleepy to run effective campaigns.”
This doesn’t get said enough.
True Dat'
I'm in a bracket that never really benefits economically from policies by the right or the left. Somewhat below the median income, but able to pay my expenses and put a bit away from each check. I prefer supporting Democrats because their policies generally do help more people than just the top 10%.
My first mortgage was at 10% APR. Next one was 8%. I bought my current house with a 6% loan, and recently got it adjusted to 2.8%. There are still programs available to poorer folks like me to buy homes. It's worth it to find out how.
Time for some commercials on the major networks?
I was feeling pretty good about my financial situation until Stephen explained why I shouldn't.
David Leonhardt offers an orderly assessment of the GOP's scrambled economic "policy" (such as it is):
"The WSJ editorial page represents an outlook that dominated the Republican Party from Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s until Trump’s arrival in 2016. It favors an approach that’s variously described as laissez-faire, small-government and neoliberal. It includes light regulation, low taxes, cuts to government benefits and high levels of trade and immigration. Its patron saint is Milton Friedman, who argued that free-market capitalism is the best way to lift living standards.
The problem for the laissez-faire advocates is that many of their predictions have not come true. [SHOCKEDSHOCKEDFACE]
Income growth for most Americans has been sluggish since the Reagan Revolution. Only the affluent have enjoyed healthy gains in income and wealth. Other measures of living standards look even worse. In 1980, life expectancy in the U.S. was typical for an industrialized country; today, it is lower than in Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea or any large country in Western Europe.
Some laissez-faire advocates claim that these statistics are all misleading and that the past several decades have in fact been a glorious period of prosperity. But most Americans disagree, polls show. Even many Republican voters disagree.
This dissatisfaction created the opening for Trump to take over the Republican Party while calling for less trade and immigration and promising to protect Medicare and Social Security. [...] A few, including Nikki Haley, have opted for Reaganism. Most high-profile younger Republican leaders have not. Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance are among the Republican senators who have called for trade restrictions or other government actions to lift incomes."
Evil NYT gift linky:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/07/briefing/desantis-republican-economics.html?unlocked_article_code=FwuMDaMDH_qIYyXKyUVxz1m9gdMJ8grR0BHTesnMosodRBG4WfiAjGsIdJs_eifzqe0HntfLlSzqlRgD425TeNRJqxaScPZpKg5XkMBZIQb9IK9-mSzCNB7teaGU81c-4vtTKdYQ-okaC-jC5j85QEwxdGhG9NRK8wyI48_u4kRnOJN7ypyFUoNl6VYRF-UyvaDaSFa2oGEl2pd9SWpMa74ntfK1ekISXfk5FgTGdgxGXIgFizKQWF-Ox53s220A5ClN-VY9M71sx6KFObZiYd0rIEVQSnwNLVYUkVgsRlapOFhZE76bykJzIsjIj5qJMFc7Sd-1WV6x56x-4Ax5mKd7jDBFzOyp&smid=url-share
Whatever happened to Nikki Haley? I haven't heard her mentioned in two months.
ALL the 2024 GOP hopefuls, except the idiots, are being extremely extremely quiet right now. There is zero benefit in getting in front of the cameras to say anything pro or con about Trump, if you're a Republican. So you're not going to hear from Haley, Hawley, Rubio, etc. for the next couple of months.
Tim Scott is trying to ride a Moment, but he will probably fade. Cruz and Christie are doing their best to pretend they're not likely to be called as witnesses in a conspiracy trial next spring - reminding voters of just how complicit they were in 1/6. Pence doesn't have that luxury, so he's going public with his new spine implant. DeSantis is the classic weak horse who breaks fast out of the gate in order to try to get a long lead but isn't going to make it to the backstretch.
She's running against PAB. He has a tendency to hog the airwaves.
"Consumer confidence" is "Should I buy a dishwasher?"
It doesn't overlap well with a quotidian sense of approval, which goes to "Why is milk STILL 20 cents too high???"
The misery index is declining because we are getting used to our new normal, including those milk prices. That will continue as we approach the election.
The problem is that it won't actually settle in until about two years from now. Gods be good, that will be Joe's second term, but until then we can't run on the future.
After all, the song is "Happy days are here again", not "Happier days are portending by all metrics".
Joe has to run on "Things are getting better and I will keep us on that course for the whole economy...but I know that things are also still not where you need them to be and that's why I will also be working on the real-life problems you deal with. That's why getting the price of insulin down was so important. Now, let's talk about those damn junk fees you hate - I'm gonna get rid of those!..."
"Joe has to run on "Things are getting better and I will keep us on that course for the whole economy...but I know that things are also still not where you need them to be and that's why I will also be working on the real-life problems you deal with. That's why getting the price of insulin down was so important. Now, let's talk about those damn junk fees you hate - I'm gonna get rid of those!..."
needs to be shortened down to a 3-4 word slogan
That's for a speech.
For a slogan: "Good things"
FWIW the milk isn't 20 cents too high; it's $8/gallon in my neighborhood, down from $9.
Really? I haven't bought any recently, but I think a gallon of Lactaid at my supermarket is $5.49, and I see convenience stores posting that they're selling milk for $3.49/gallon, which around here is slightly less than gasoline. If you don't mind mentioning, approximately where are you?
Manhattan
Weird. I'm in the outer suburbs, close enough that I can train in (and did for several years). Is this just a case of the local corner stores/bodegas charging whatever they think they can get away with?
My point was that this is a felt matter.
Telling people that they should be happy with a result that still feels bad because it used to be worse is not a winning approach.
No question. But also, the objective reality too is that food is a lot more expensive as a percentage of a regular household budget than it was before Covid, and prices have not come down. So it's both the inchoate feelings we have about the economy and the sticker shock of trying to buy a gallon of milk.
Prices are not going to "come down" while people still buy the stuff- Free Market Capitalism, Yo'...
Exactly! That's why economic trends don't impact as we wish that they would and talking about specific points that CAN be felt is more essential.
Consumer confidence, a lagging indicator, is at a 4 year high
Ahem. A factoid is something that looks like a fact but isn't. A more accurate term would be facticle.
And the test to show the truth of a facticle would be a what, now?
I was looking for a way deeper linguistic joke so it took me two minutes to get it. I guess I forgot where I was for a moment :D
Does it melt when it gets hot?
I was thinking more along the lines of Fucker Snarlson's UV tanner device.
well done
*smiles*
*brushes back his hair*
Negative views on the economy are hard baked. It will take time for voters to accept a new reality, just in time for the election. All is well; they know what they're doing.
as someone who lives this 24/7, the fall of the stock market is greatly related to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. When there is world instability, investors hold on to their money, and as is known to people in these sectors, the biotech industry, as a canary in the coal mine for investment, took a serious hit, still ongoing.
It's also still fallout from the quarantine, with the understanding that Covid waves are going to happen every winter, and if China shuts down, our supply chain goes off the rails.
On the flip side, the gradual improvement in employment, wage rates, and relatively stable inflation without recession are due in part to reduced dependence on oil - which is finally beginning to show its good effects - and a genuine peace dividend since 2021.