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Been to a grocery store lately? Looked at rent prices? How about clothing? Gas? Basic necessities?
People think the economy's getting worse because it IS for consumers. I don't really give a shit if a company is paying less for grain than they did a year ago if the prices they charge for the final product havn't gone down!
Until basic costs of living start decreasing, most people aren't going to see any positive change.
Yeah, this kind of headline has no bearing on 99% of people's lives, it's just corporate gaslighting to try to keep the population sedated.
This is my thinking. I guess it's good the economy is good but prices of housing and food are skyrocketing for me so I don't feel it lol
When toxic "econimistism" comes home to roost. A "strong economy" as measured by stock markets and company profits, both owned primarily by the extremely wealthy is not the same as "working class people are doing well economically", which is what should be meant by "a strong economy" if it were not for the neoliberal brain rot.
Honestly. There needs to be (probably is and I'm unaware) an index that measures the Average Joe ™️ economy health. So not just like the big Mac index, but a measure of how have the average Americans in the lower to middle class have gained increased take-home pay, reduced debt, asset valuation appreciation, and more indicators that actually increase their day to day life and financial situation.
There’s a FRED series called real disposable income: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A229RX0
Which is after-tax personal income adjusted for inflation.
Yeah I got a 20% raise and my rent is going up 24%. Any progress I make is immediately thwarted.
If I stay here I'll be paying half my take home income on rent for a 1BR
That is literally the deal in Boston, MA. Where the going rate for a 1 bedroom apartment is in the ballpark of $2500 USD/month. Exactly half of my take-home income.
Oh, that's without factoring in utilities.
Pretty sure it’s measured by gdp
As others have already stated, the job market is fine, the stocks are fine, but the ability to afford living day to day is worse than I have ever remembered. Here in my cheaper state here are some random prices:
Who’s it getting better for? Wall Street? Prices on shit keeps fucking going up. My paycheck ain’t.
Corporations and the 1% keep posting record profits.
The rest of us keep having to pay higher prices.
CNN: Why do many Americans think the economy is getting worse?? It's working as designed.
Corporate profits are relatively flat as a percentage of national income (it has gone up a bit since COVID): https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A445RE1A156NBEA
People always seem to remember to adjust wages for inflation but understandably because of media headlines almost never adjust profits for inflation.
Major corporations in America hide most of their profits. If you listen to their earnings calls, they'll still be boasting about record profits.
So if they’re hidden how do you know they are at record levels?
As per my last comment:
If you listen to their earnings calls, they’ll still be boasting about record profits.
That's because our useless news media has been beating the drum of recession for literally years now because fear mongering is all they know how to do.
Also because wages are still stagnant and costs keep going up. On average, the economy is doing great, but that news to the people on the bottom is just an indicator of how much they are being exploited.
Rent is up, grocery prices are up, gas is up again, pay hasn't kept up with inflation, corporate profits at all time highs and Powell at the Fed is literally trying to weaken labors negotiating power, but sure it's the media brainwashing people...
That's because (yes, others here beat me to it) -- the economy is not the stock market. People's costs of living and wages aren't getting better, they're getting worse, even as giant corps have record profits and that is reflected on the stock tickers. If the average person was heavily invested early on in some of these corporate behemoths and could actually share in the rapacious profits, maybe things would be different... but that's not the case.
The economy is fantastic for like the 10% of the country who owns 75% of the country's junk
Remove the income of the top 1% of Americans from the equation and you'll REALLY see how good the "economy" is.
“Months of stronger economic news”. Oh you mean propaganda? The economy is getting worse. Price gouging and job losses are an easy way to gauge things.
People don’t need news to know how fucked up their shit is. All they have to do is experience it and then they’ll know themselves the truth. You won’t get this take from the news because they are gaslighting you.
Should we guess which half thinks that?
Half of Americans are lying because reality doesn't suit their narrative.
If Trump had been president, this exact same economy would have been the best ever.
The stock market isn't the economy. Wall Street has a vested interest in us believing the opposite, however, so of course CNN and others will keep acting like they're the same thing.
It's ok guys, I got my 2% annual raise so that should fix things... right?
Or maybe... just maybe... this is backwards and the notable thing is that statistics have been cited in support of a claim that the economy is improving, despite the fact that at least half of Americans believe that it isn't.
By most metrics, the economy is still gloomy long term. It's a prediction over the course of years not months.
Consider the great depression, the economy was fucked months before the stock market crashed, but if you only looked at the stock market to determine that, you would think everything was fine up until it was too late.
I recommend watching wealthion and anyone they interview on their channel.
just because the ball is bouncing doesn't mean it's getting any higher.
Can you say "election cycle"?
Looking at the mid term election results, current voters seem to value social policy over economic policy (it should have been a right wing blow out, but it wasn't)
I wouldnt say bad news about the economy is due to an election cycle. The average boomer is a year past retirement now. There are going to be huge consequences over the next 10 years because of this as their children will need to take care of them, and there won't be more kids than parents which our society is used to to fill in the labor gap as the boomers leave.