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[–] 125 points 3 years ago (48 children)

Who’s it getting better for? Wall Street? Prices on shit keeps fucking going up. My paycheck ain’t.

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  • [–] 53 points 3 years ago

    Yeah, according to a Federal Reserve survey from earlier this year "only 63% of adults surveyed said they would cover an unexpected $400 expense using cash or its equivalent, down from 68% the year before. Many noted they would lean on credit cards or family members to manage such a bill. About 13% said they wouldn’t be able to cover such an expense by any means."

    Upper middle class and above households have been doing great, but everyone else is in a bad way and getting worse.

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    [–] 107 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Pretty interesting way to spell out the fact that that the economy is designed to extract as much value from workers as possible.

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  • [–] 22 points 3 years ago

    Ding ding ding!

    If a company can extract more value out of its workers while paying them less, that means the company is doing good. If this happens across a bunch of companies, that means the economy is doing good. All because they're getting more value from our labor than the crumbs they toss to us.

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  • [+] 91 points 3 years ago
    [–] 78 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    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:

    • A bag of Doritos is over $7.
    • Beef shortage makes ground beef for a family of 4 $14
    • Gas prices are over $3.70
    • My grocery bill increased by nearly 50% overall and we are buying less on top of that
    • Car prices are through the roof, making it impossible for people like me to change cars (I’m hearing they are going to drop again soon)
    • Rent prices are soaring to the point where it isn’t sustainable
    • Interest rate keeps rising
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  • [–] 77 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Groceries and gas is still inflated. Services are steadily raising rates and some people are still not being paid a living wage.

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  • [–] 71 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 20 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Woah now!

    That's starting to sound like Socialism and having public ownership

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  • [–] 57 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    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.

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    [–] 56 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    That's because no matter how well stock prices are doing, it still costs substantially more to buy groceries than it did last year, by way of example. The average American is screwed just as hard with a good economy as a bad one, and the poorer you are, the rawer the screwing.

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    [–] 56 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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    [–] 39 points 3 years ago

    Guys, we just have to wait for it to trickle down! Don't worry, any decade now and it will finally pay off...

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  • [–] 36 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Months of gaslighting that they were doing great didn't work out so well. Being told wages are up, inflation down, economy great while wondering how they are gonna pay rent contradicted the desired message.

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    [–] 28 points 3 years ago* (4 children)

    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.

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    [–] 25 points 3 years ago* (3 children)

    That's because it is getting worse. No one believes the bullshit that it's getting better. It's fake news.

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    [–] 21 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 39 points 3 years ago*

    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...

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  • [–] 20 points 3 years ago*

    The economy is fantastic for like the 10% of the country who owns 75% of the country's junk

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  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago

    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.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 years ago

    Yeah I mean, gains on Wall Street may be considered "stronger economic news" by some, but it tends to matter for relatively few.

    A strong economy doesn't rely on news stories about Wall St. If I see my money going further, I take it as strong economic news. If I see my wages go up, I take it as strong economic news. If I ever see rents go down, or housing in general become more affordable, or literally anything that affects most common people in a positive way based on some financial change, I'll take it as strong economic news.

    Wall St making more money? Not strong economic news. Just stories that highlight how the rich continue to get richer and how out of touch one small subset of the population is from the rest.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 years ago

    Remove the income of the top 1% of Americans from the equation and you'll REALLY see how good the "economy" is.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 years ago

    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.

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  • [–] 14 points 3 years ago

    just because the ball is bouncing doesn't mean it's getting any higher.

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  • [–] 12 points 3 years ago

    “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.

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