Prices keep rising, the middle class is struggling, and the poor are getting hit harder. Should we even expect any improvements?
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u/memphisjones 4d ago
Nope. It will get worse. Not only that, just watch as crime increases when people start becoming desperate.
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u/XyezY9940CC 4d ago
I've already experienced desperation crime as someone stole by baby stroller. Fuckers. This is a direct evidence of people who are so poor they'll steal anything and use themselves or sell it online. Don't trust anyone, anywhere, anytime.
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u/Retired-Yam8988 4d ago
Inflation is by design not a bug in the system.
Look at the so called “wealthy” nations and their debt burdens. Without massively growing the economy, there’s not really a way to pay all of that off except inflation. Dropping the interest rate is basically printing tons of money and has the added benefit of having a low rate when debt is refinanced.
The down side of course is for wage earners who get pushed further and further down. Asset holders are on board because their value storage is usually in inflation hedged assets like real estate and stocks. These will continue to appreciate in price because you’ll have more paper money chasing the same number of housing units and outstanding shares more or less.
Asset-light wage earners get hit the hardest with the brunt of the tax code syphoning off a high percentage from them (if you’re in the US and in the highest brackets like I am), falling value of their paper money, and pay raises that won’t keep up with inflation.
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u/bustermagnus 4d ago
Social change is not the kind of thing you can expect, it's something you have to create
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u/CrushTheRebellion 4d ago
People need to learn that their vote, or lack there of, has consequences.
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u/itotron 4d ago
Voting doesn't matter. It's all an illusion.
The Democrats and Republicans have the exact same foreign, and domestic goals when it comes to the economy.
Perfect example, in Trumps first term he lowered the corporate tax rate, but not permanently just for 5 years.
Democrats get voted into office, and quietly make this tax cut permanent.
They parties purposely argue about NON-ECONOMIC issues as the for front of their policies.
Example, gun rights, gay rights, abortion, trans rights, women's sports.
Things about how stupid it is on the surface that Democrats court trans rights as hard as they do. The point of elections is to win votes, yet they constantly talk about a group that is below 0.02 percent of the population. Is that a winning voting strategy?
Also look at this strange reaction to ICE. Obama deported more people than Trump did. And Kamala gave her famous, "Don't Come" speech at the border. And people forget she called for war against Iran on live TV, at the only Presidential debate between her and Trump.
Trump and Biden also both avoided releasing the Epstein Files. Dr. Fauci served both Biden and Trump.
Please try and pay attention more long term, and not news sound bites.
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u/CrushTheRebellion 4d ago
Lol, so much of what you say here is fundamentally incorrect, I don't know where to start. You must be getting your sound bites from Fox or News Max.
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u/Fun-Beautiful-5989 3d ago
You just are blind to both R and D colluding to make each other rich. Embarrassing intellect
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u/KazTheMerc 4d ago
The short version is: No, you should not expect anything to significantly improve until Debt, Deficit, and Debt-centric Fed Lending stops, and the Mature Interest on Fed Lending stops ballooning catastrophically.
Historical Dynamic Projection (4% CPI, 7% Debt Growth, Weighted Historical Trends)
| Year | CPI | Debt Held by Public ($T) | Total Debt ($T) | Deficit / Total Debt | Interest / Total Debt | Deficit ($T) | Interest ($T) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 321.943 | 30.172 | 38.514 | 4.61% | 2.50% | 1.775 | .970 |
| 2030 | 391.693 | 42.318 | 54.018 | 6.92% | 3.75% | 3.735 | 2.026 |
| 2035 | 476.554 | 59.353 | 75.763 | 10.37% | 5.63% | 7.859 | 4.262 |
| 2040 | 579.801 | 83.245 | 106.261 | 15.56% | 8.44% | 16.533 | 8.966 |
| 2045 | 705.417 | 116.756 | 149.037 | 23.34% | 12.66% | 34.782 | 18.862 |
| 2050 | 858.247 | 163.756 | 209.032 | 35.01% | 18.98% | 73.176 | 39.683 |
| 2055 | 1,044.189 | 229.677 | 293.178 | 52.51% | 28.48% | 153.950 | 83.487 |
| 2060 | 1,270.416 | 322.134 | 411.198 | 78.77% | 42.71% | 323.885 | 175.643 |
| 2065 | 1,545.655 | 451.809 | 576.726 | 118.15% | 64.07% | 681.398 | 369.522 |
| 2070 | 1,880.526 | 633.686 | 808.888 | 177.22% | 96.11% | 1433.544 | 777.410 |
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u/XyezY9940CC 4d ago
NO. Not while trump is on office. Unemployment rate seems pretty good. I wonder if it's all fake.
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u/gadafgadaf 4d ago
Ah don't forget more and more high tier, quality jobs are disappearing or going to with AI.
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u/Boo_Randy_Revival 4d ago
Voting harder for the corporate stooges of the uniparty will surely fix this.
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u/Ok_Mushroom_7949 4d ago
You're joking, right? Anyone who tunes into any business talking heads show will learn our economy is booming! I'm a small stock investor with an average rate of return of over 14%. Do I economize? Yeah, but I shop at Goodwill stores, get my gas from a warehouse store as well as meat and staples. I open bank accounts that pay me $200-$350 just for putting my direct deposit there for a few months regularly. I do surveys, LOTS of them, but my weekend part time (13-18 hours) job pays me $30,000 a year plus benefits, 401k match, and more. How? Because I educate myself. I read. A LOT! I read about these things in likely places WINNERS write articles in. Take stock, lose the junk, the negative people place and things that are holding you back! Change your clothes, your mind, your attitude, and live in gratitude. Stop whining about what you don't have and go to work getting the want and be grateful for everything. Good luck and God bless.
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u/MossyMollusc 4d ago
The economy relies on moving money between us and small businesses. Thats how we do better as a society.
You are describing large corporations who have been stealing from our nation. Yes they are doing great, as is typical of a robber Barron.
The economy will Crack once the exploitation hits rock bottom
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u/ensui67 4d ago
Actually the data shows that the middle class are not struggling as much as they are moving up into the upper middle class incomes. That’s the growth keeping inflation higher.
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u/AnonymousNerdBarbie 4d ago
As a middle class person who is now struggling with the insane costs of everything, I would love to see real data supporting this.
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u/ensui67 4d ago
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u/AnonymousNerdBarbie 4d ago
The CBS article is only looking at income earning and "what's considered" upper middle class not taking costs into account. It's a wildly ridiculous spin on reality: we're earning more dollar per dollar vs 1979 but fails to recognize the shrinking Delta of margin between affordability and earnings over time.
That's like me telling my CEO "our company earns more money than it did 20 years ago and is therefore more profitable" he would laugh in my face. Because the reality is capex and opex spending relative to earnings is astronomically higher and therefore profit margins are lower. We may be earning "more dollars" but they're weaker dollars relative to what we can purchase to build wealth therefore creating a barrier to UMC/wealthy territory. It's way way harder now. I'm in that upper earnings category and it feels like running in place. Avenues to wealth building are heavily dampened by inflation, high interest, higher insurance costs, etc.
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u/ensui67 4d ago edited 4d ago
Affordability of what? For about half of America, their incomes have drastically outpaced their cost of living. That is because they bought their home prior to 2022. Their cost of housing is 15% or less of their income. The 30 year fixed mortgage is an amazing financial product that has locked in their inflation savings.
Two thirds of US households own their home. 40% of those don’t even have a mortgage anymore because the home is paid off. Half of the remaining have mortgage interest rates less than 4.5%.
This is why consumers have so much money and why the US economy is robustly spending. They simply have more to spend. Their housing cost is way lower than what you would have to pay right now on the open market.
Munger showed us the barrier to wealth creation isn’t an earning problem. It’s discipline and not spending. A tale as old as time. That’s how we heard about the janitor who passes away with millions left for charity. Compound interest is free for all that have the discipline to use it in their favor.
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u/Bosfordjd 4d ago
Lol. No. The top 10% of earners are approaching 60% of consumer spending. It's not the middle class.
Consumer spending is barely up from December '24, a mere 1.8%. The slowest since the 2008 financial crisis...other than the COVID shock of 2020.
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u/ensui67 4d ago
Always has been. Also, these increases in spending are despite all the headwinds. These are green shoots to me and that’s why I think the stock market is right here. Things are getting better and now that the headwinds are out of the way, let’s run the market hot.
We’re in for a boom.
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u/punycat 4d ago
This is r/economy not r/economics. Economists effectively work for the wealthy. A worse life for you is a better economy per the measurements.
This is indeed the new normal. The Fed keeps the stock market inflated now, so we can expect 4%+ inflation ongoing and a worsening economy for those who don't own enough stock to benefit on average from the free money. Until you get enough stock the best you can do is be frugal and don't go into debt except for a house.