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[-] blazera@kbin.social 155 points 1 year ago

My wages have not gone up and the prices i pay are still going up.

[-] the_q@lemmy.world 93 points 1 year ago

But the economy is doing great! Billionaires and corporations are making record profits while eliminating thousands and thousands of jobs!

[-] disheveledWallaby@lemmy.ml 41 points 1 year ago

The DOW is a misery index. A measure of how much wealth can be extracted from the working class and reappropriated to the wealthy.

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago
[-] disheveledWallaby@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago
[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

OK, so the D stands for Dow Jones ... what do the O and W stand for?

[-] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Ya but they fired one full time worker and replaced them with three part time workers! Progress!

[-] naught@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

I'm confused. Wages are growing faster than inflation now. Unemployment is back down. Every metric for WORKERS (not stocks, markets, etc.) is on the up.

Do you have evidence I can read about this part time phenomena?

While I know things are generally bleak from a general late-stage capitalism point of view, and things cant be all good for everyone, but things are looking good or better, at least for most people. What benefit is there in denying this? It's the same FUD the media is spreading, I feel.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

Specific inflation, like rent and food, are not down and not being beat by wages. Also the official inflation numbers don't include food.

Furthermore, there's decades of slippage to make up for, just in the official numbers. There is a 139 percent gap since 1974. (The first year for which numbers are easily accessible) That means that the inflation added up every year beats median wage change added every year by 139 points.

A couple months of beating core inflation isn't going to solve something that's been problematic since the mid 2000's.

[-] naught@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago

Good points! Isn't decreasing runaway inflation still a boon? Also, what metric for inflation are you using? I thought the CPI included average essentials a person would buy, like food. It seems that measure is also decreasing:

https://www.bls.gov/charts/consumer-price-index/consumer-price-index-by-category.htm

How does one beat core inflation, though? Deflationary and austerity measures typically end poorly, right? I guess companies would have to pay up so that productivity gains match real wage gains.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Well yeah. That's the basic problem. If we still prioritize corporate gains, we will never get people back on on track.

[-] Sunforged@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 year ago

That's all great in a vacuum, but when you add in housing costs suddenly none of those gains are enough.

[-] naught@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

Totally! In the context of Biden's economic policies, generally, I think it reflects favorably for him.

I would like to see corporations banned from purchasing single family homes, massive rent control measures, etc. But these aren't things I can expect Biden to achieve unilaterally or quickly.

[-] Sunforged@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Biden doesn't even acknowledge the current issues with the way our economy is structured as evident by this article.

[-] naught@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago

They really only included a quick blurb. What about Biden's other efforts?

Brainard [one of Biden’s top economic advisors] described “lowering costs and increasing access to housing for Americans” as “one of the most important issues in the President’s economic agenda.”

and

He has backed several affordable housing bills and action plans in 2023 — including the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, which would produce 500,000 starter homes in under-resourced communities over the next decade

source

I am not hyper up-to-date on everything political these days, but it seems like Biden is doing alright. Especially when I consider the alternative 🥲

[-] Shyfer@ttrpg.network 4 points 1 year ago

They need to shout about these efforts more. And I'd like to see actionable results and not just endless studies. The Democrats have always been terrible at messaging. Probably because all the media is corporate owned.

[-] willis936@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You can't take credit for things that haven't happened.

[-] Natanael@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 year ago

But you can discredit somebody for bad things they're planning to do (looking at a certain insurrectionist)

[-] Sunforged@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There are more 25 million kids coming of age in the following decade. 500,000 doesn't even scratch the surface of housing needs, it's doing something sure but I am not going to praise the man for doing below the bare minimum.

You're once again looking at this in a vacuum.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

This is as bad as the GOP talking about "access" to healthcare in the US. They're going to subsidize the construction of the worst kind of housing to solve a housing crisis and half of them are going to be bought by investment companies.

We need market rate mid rises administrated by a non profit organization.

[-] naught@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

wdym? The GOP does their best to limit access to healthcare. My only point is that Biden isn't sitting around doing nothing ignoring the problems that most Americans face. Does not mean that he is beyond reproach or criticism.

I agree that corporations need to be stopped from buying up all the homes, but this is only one initiative and it includes price controls and other great things for low income families. More needs to be done, but I cant complain about progress.

edit: Also non-profits are not a panacea to any problems. The government is the only entity with the power to accomplish what we need

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

And yet Republicans will tell you straight to your face that they improved healthcare access. That's the parallel. The point.

[-] naught@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

I think the difference to me is that Democrats/Joe Biden are passing real legislation that will go into effect and do something hopefully, whereas Republicans have dismantled protections for women, etc. Definitely important not to count the chickens before they hatch though!

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, but people on discussion forums have a generally higher exposure to political stuff. Most voters aren't even aware there was another wave of loan forgiveness, that they lowered the cost of hearing aids, put a large amount of money towards Superfund cleanup, or set new regulations around HFCs and methane.

They just want to put food on the table for their family in return for working 40 hours a week in the most automated economy ever.

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Public sentiment is a trailing indicator of economic success. Until the gains are really felt by people they don't see them. In a couple months that wage growth and lower inflation will even out.

Quite a few states are increasing their minimum wage in 2024, and federal workers are getting a 5% raise. I imagine the "but why aren't people happy about the economy" stuff will fade away in a quarter or two.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Hey if that happens, then great. But it's one hell of a bet to make in an election year. Especially when people have been struggling for a decade now.

[-] AltheaHunter 4 points 1 year ago

All hail the job creators!

[-] Something_Complex@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I'll talk to biden and let him know of your situation. I'm sure he will do something tomorrow dw.

[-] blazera@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago

Ill let him know next November

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

Trump will 100% be great for your life 💯💯💯💯

[-] blazera@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago

Oh boi i get to choose between my life getting worse and my life getting worse.

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

BoTh SiDes is defeatist bullshit and just an excuse for mental laziness. Try thinking for a change.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The thing is for a great many people they don't care. They aren't getting deported. They aren't getting shit on any worse than with Biden.

That may change, but it didn't in Trump's first term. Biden has to be better now, for the working class, than Trump was. And he just isn't.

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Is the suggestion here that minorities shouldn't or don't matter even though they are a solid chunk of the working class?

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Oh, wow this was supposed to have a response last night. I guess Lemmy hiccuped.

The problem is that minorities are in fact minorities. You can't win based on them. And even a bunch of them aren't seeing the election as an existential fight. They didn't see an increase in their situation under Biden. If Biden only makes concrete improvements for the upper classes then there's no direct reason for the lower classes to show up for him.

This is how autocrats have gotten elected time and time again. Democracy requires actually helping the voting class. When it doesn't, the voters are more than happy to vote themselves out of a democracy.

[-] EatATaco@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

The POTUS has little control over the economy. But the economy is way better than when Trump left office, and the outlook is thousands of times better.

It's just that people bought the claim that somehow the economy going to shit under trump wasn't his fault (it wasn't) but now that the same thing that fucked trump is still fucking shit up, it's Bidens fault.

[-] blazera@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

You're talking at me and not taking in what im saying. Working full time every week, my life is worse off now than before Biden took office. Im not going to vote to make my life worse.

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I do hear what you're saying. You apparently think another option would be better, despite the mountains of evidence against that

[-] blazera@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

The mountains of what? What evidence? Evidence of presidencies besides Biden and Trump's??

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

The only real reason to vote for Biden is his commitment to letting us vote again in 2028. Something Trump seems soft on. What are our options in 2028? Lmao

[-] TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Worse off during Biden is different from worse off because of Biden. Hitting the brakes while going downhill 200 MPH doesn't completely stop you from going more downhill. Every modern Republican has been so incredibly short-sighted that it's genuinely destroying our future by insane levels.

[-] stevehobbes@lemy.lol 6 points 1 year ago

Mine and my wife’s have, it’s all anecdata, but we’re doing better than before.

[-] blazera@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

Min wage not increasing and prices increasing isnt anecdotal

[-] stevehobbes@lemy.lol 6 points 1 year ago

At least where I am, no one makes minimum wage. Fast food and retail jobs are $17+/hr.

Minimum wage is irrelevant if the prevailing wages are higher. It seems like monthly we're hearing that a union has signed a new record breaking pay agreement.

That is not anecdotal - pay is going up: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t19.htm https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages

this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
389 points (100.0% liked)

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