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Americans can no longer afford a summer vacation (www.newsweek.com)
submitted 4 months ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 138 points 4 months ago

Despite negative perceptions on the state of the economy, inflation is now much lower than its June 2022 peak of 9.1 percent.

I can never get past economic articles that miss the fundamental issue with "but inflation rates are lower!" card.

Like, the price never went down, it just started increasing faster for a while, and is now slowing down. But it's still increasing.

Like imagine if you went from 0-60 in 2 seconds in an Uber, so you say "slow down". So the driver takes 2 more seconds to go from 60-100.

The rate of acceleration slowed down, but the past acceleration doesn't just magically disappear.

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 78 points 4 months ago

And wages aren't keeping up, either. A friend just told me they got a 1% "raise" this year. After inflation, that's a pay cut.

[-] IHeartBadCode@kbin.run 44 points 4 months ago

High inflation: I'm losing money faster.

Low inflation: I'm losing money slower.

That's how it should be read.

Despite negative perceptions on the state of the economy, people are losing money a lot slower than its June 2022 peak of losing a shit ton of money per quarter.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 18 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Rather than losing money, it's technically more correct to say that we're earning less.

The real trick is converting to purchasing power of individuals and showing the trend overtime.

Like the average/median purchasing power of an American year by year. Not just purchasing power of a dollar, but of the average salary.

Edit:

Are down votes because I didn't mention savings?

Like 50% have less than $500, over a third have less than $100

This functionally isn't a problem for most so I ignored it considering the focus is on poverty and not how I flation effects the wealthiest.

[-] DancingBear@midwest.social 4 points 4 months ago

I think it’s a perception thing? Maybe people feel like they are earning more money than ever before but things cost more so they feel like they are losing money rather than earning less? I don’t know the answer but yea…. Prices are going up and they are still going up, and even if inflation is under control it feels like prices are going up faster than they were before….

Eating at a fast food restaurant I remember my first job I could get a burger for way less than one hour of work at my lowest wage I worked for I could get a whole combo meal at the fast food place next to one of my first jobs for about one hour of work…. Wages have gone up a bit but it’s not keeping pace so if i look at what my same job would pay per hour now it’s still not going to get me a meal for one hour of work, maybe only the burger.

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[-] myrrh@ttrpg.network 75 points 4 months ago

...no longer afford?..man, the last proper vacation i took was in nineteen-ninety-mother-f*cking-eight...

[-] WamGams@lemmy.ca 51 points 4 months ago

When you threw Mankind off the top of the cage at Hell in the Cell?

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 18 points 4 months ago

shitty morph lives!

[-] Ullallulloo@civilloquy.com 67 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

TL;DR: Only 56% of Americans plan on taking a summer vacation this year.

For comparison:

[-] hannesh93@feddit.org 51 points 4 months ago

So it's higher than almost any time after normalising from a record height but somehow they needed to create a negative headline?

[-] doubletwist@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

Yup, pretty much.

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[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 40 points 4 months ago

And one side is working decidedly to take away this and every summer vacation of your life - while the other side backs union labor which is the reason you and I even have weekends, a workday capped at 8 hours and vacation time period.

Wake up and smell, old donny dipshit and his ghoulish handlers!

[-] chaogomu@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fgu4ppsviyqad1.jpeg

Here's a slightly better version that's just things spelled out in the actual project2025.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 33 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Or worse, I can afford it but still can't go because my wife can't get the time off from work.

She had to get a doctors note to get 2 extra days off around the 4th to recover from surgery(!)

Surgery aside, I would have loved to have packed up this week and spent it someplace fun. My wife would have only had Thursday off. She got Wed, Thur, Fri only because her doctor told her employer to get fucked.

It's not like I can go "Sorry honey! Headed to Vegas! See you in a week!" Well... not if I wanted to STAY married.

[-] AreaSIX@lemm.ee 16 points 4 months ago

That's just an appalling situation for workers in the US. I work in the public sector and get 37 days off a year in vacation time. Admittedly, I work in the public sector and have a generous vacation deal, but it's absolutely insane that workers in the US have a worse deal than many third world nations. My 37 days are working days, meaning I get almost 8 whole weeks of vacation time, on top of all the other regular bank holidays everyone else gets. The people there often seem to cherish your second amendment, but fuck, what tyranny are you guys waiting for. How about using them weapons for something else than suicides and accidental shootings?

[-] myrrh@ttrpg.network 4 points 4 months ago

all the other regular bank holidays everyone else gets.

..."everyone else" gets six, if they're fortunate to land a salaried position: new year's day, memorial day, independence day, labor day, thanksgiving day, and christmas day; all those other unobserved holidays are a thing for the public sector and finance only...

[-] AreaSIX@lemm.ee 6 points 4 months ago

Alright. I was thinking about bank holidays here in Sweden. They're generally off days for all workers here. You can choose to work, it's not like everything is closed. But that's a voluntary thing that your employer can't force you to do, and which is handsomely compensated on account of it being a bank holiday. So people in the hospitality sector for example generally seem to like these shifts and there's no shortage of volunteers to cover them. This is yet another area where the US system is raping US workers it seems.

[-] hannesh93@feddit.org 15 points 4 months ago

I really don't get how you guys don't properly unionize - especially with how many companies collaborate with European ones where everyone gets a minimum of 4 weeks of holiday guaranteed by law.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago

Not only that, she works for a billion dollar multi-national. I can't tell you who, but you do know who they are. They even have union representation in other areas, just not hers.

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[-] Daxtron2@startrek.website 27 points 4 months ago

I haven't had a summer vacation since school lmao

[-] SlowRoastedMadness@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago

No longer? Im in my early 30s and have never been able to take a vacation since I've been on my own/with my wife. Between bills and rising prices, and my job combining pto and sick time, i dont have time or money to do anything more than a day trip to someplace not that far away.

[-] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

I'm in my late 30's in the NYC area. What my wife and I consider a "vacation" is going to Philly and staying in a hotel with a pool, and just putzing around a different city for the weekend.

The idea of taking a week+ off from work and flying somewhere is a foreign concept to me.

There have been a couple of times that we have gone to states far away to stay with family/friends, but it's usually for like a long weekend.

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[-] ef9357@lemmy.sdf.org 20 points 4 months ago

No longer? I’m almost 60 and have never been able to afford a vacation.

[-] orcrist@lemm.ee 17 points 4 months ago

Despite negative perceptions on the state of the economy, inflation is now much lower than its June 2022 peak of 9.1 percent.

The writers are irresponsible here. They are implying that the public is unaware of inflation, that this is a perception problem. But the reality is, nobody cares about inflation. We care about the cost of living, and we know exactly how that impacts us when we look at our credit cards and bank accounts.

[-] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago

I make more than the average by quite a bit and have unlimited time off, my wife works PT to get out of the house and gets paid well also with basically unlimited unpaid time off (there’s the catch). Even we aren’t taking a normal vacation for us this year (flying to see family or exotic getaway), instead staying within the state and doing cheaper things like camping.

[-] PurplebeanZ@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago

Shit, I have 3 or 4 holidays every year and it still feels like I'm always working. How the hell do you cope without a single holiday??

[-] Amanduh@lemm.ee 11 points 4 months ago

Drugs

[-] CPMSP@midwest.social 5 points 4 months ago

Masochism and addiction

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[-] gnomesaiyan@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

The solution is not to increase your income to compensate for the costs of living, but instead to lower your standards. I go off-trail camping every year and never think about the costs because it's fucking cheap. Getting away from civilization is the vacation. See you around the campfire!

EDIT - Downvoting is easy. Haters gonna hate!

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 11 points 4 months ago

Oh wow, so I need to get a car, camping supplies, and to take time off from work that I don't have.

This doesn't sound cheap, it just sounds like you have the means.

Be as apathetic about the state of the economy as you want. The rest of us will fight for a better life.

[-] Kit 10 points 4 months ago

Get a tent for free on Buy Nothing, strap it to your bike, take a bus to the nearest trail, ride all day, camp next to a river, go home the next day. Easily doable in a 2 day weekend. I did this exact thing 2 weeks ago and it was a great mental reset.

Sounds like you just want an excuse to be miserable instead of finding ways to be happy.

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[-] GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee 11 points 4 months ago

Yep. Had to cancel ours. Made just enough money to cover some emergencies, nothing left for fun.

[-] Samvega 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

How many Americans struggle to afford to live?

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[-] Beaver@lemmy.ca 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You can thank the republicans, corporate democrats and first-past-the-post for that.

Edit:fixed word

[-] keys 6 points 4 months ago

Join the club america

[-] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 months ago

Lol "summer" vacation... Implying other vacations in other seasons.

[-] misterdoctor@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

Well this explains why I haven’t been able to afford a summer vacation

[-] fluckx@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

Just eat less avocado toast and stop going to Starbucks. I swear this generation can't budget at all

/s

[-] misterdoctor@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Listen, how me and my wife choose to spend $800 per month on avocados and bread is nobody’s business but ours and our bankruptcy attorney

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[-] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

I don't know why they won't suck it up and go into debt for a week of vacation like the rest of us responsible adults.

In reality, we'd rather just use our paid time off to relax, and vacations are hardly ever relaxing.

[-] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Americans get vacations now?

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this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2024
372 points (100.0% liked)

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