this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 133 points 11 months ago (10 children)

Because this isn't a strong economy....

The rich are making money, but they're just hoarding it

So amount of money in circulation keeps decreasing, and prices keep increasing because in capitalism if a company isnt increasing profit margins, the stock price isn't going up. And they finally figured out calling corporate greed "inflation" means around 2/3s of the country will accept it

Either we drastically raise taxes soon, or shits about to get really really bad.

Very few people will just sit back and calmly starve to death

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The 2/3 of the country can generally be fooled to believe anything.

However, just raising taxes in this case may have some similarity to extinguishing fire with a burnable substance.

You have to raise some taxes (say, on realty ownership, and some other possessions, and in general discourage possession of wealth without circulation) and lower some other taxes (say, anything taxing a transaction, I'm really not familiar with the way taxes work in USA, but in Russia plenty of taxes in hard numbers simply discourage economic activity). The goal should be increasing the actual inflation (not a good or bad thing per se). That's if you are right about the cause, which I'm in doubt about TBF.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago (9 children)

In the US income taxes are different at different income levels and corporate taxes are separate entirely. We can absolutely raise taxes without raising them on lower income people.

And yes several studies over the last couple decades have shown that US money is going up and not coming back down.

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[–] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 76 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A strong stock market is not a strong economy. The economy is the flow of money exchanging hands, which is down because people are paid less than ever compared to the cost of living. This leads to starvation.

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[–] alienanimals@lemmy.world 76 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Strong economy == corporate price gouging while everyone else's wages stagnate.

[–] eestileib@sh.itjust.works 30 points 11 months ago

It's a great economy if you're already rich.

Since all elected officials are either rich or grabbing everything they can to become so, they can't understand what it's like for people on minimum wage or a fixed income.

We need more attention on stats like "what percentage of people have zero savings", "what percentage of the median worker's income is consumed by basic expenses", "how many people didn't eat yesterday"...

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 75 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Hey NBC, an economy that's not providing the basic necessities for working families is not a strong economy. No matter what the pretty graph says.

[–] 1847953620@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago (17 children)

iT's NoT a ReCeSsIoN (because we don't like you having a word to call it, so we're the ones who get to redefine it however we wish)

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[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's strong for the people who matter.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Not if it keeps going like this. The rich will find out really quickly that they have nothing more than funny bits of colored paper and a gentleman's agreement with a Bank's internet server. Strong economies start from the bottom up and die from the bottom up. Catering to the top has always been a recipe for disaster.

[–] jdadam@lemm.ee 49 points 11 months ago (2 children)

In a household of four with two full time incomes (both teachers, so take that with a grain of salt), we are at the point that the food budget is the only thing left to cut. We have canceled any subscriptions, cut all other spending, and often skip lunch/breakfast or eat Ramen noodles to save the bulk of our money for the kids and feed them better. I'm sick of beans and rice, BTW. Due to the nature of our jobs and the outside of school hours (which we are compensated for), side hustle is not an option. We would like to actually be present and part of our kids lives. I keep getting told "it gets better," but the stress of making the bills and feeding the family is relentless, and that says a lot since we are way more fortunate than most. We need change.

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 24 points 11 months ago

"It gets better" is just a bullshit comment to keep you complacent. It doesn't get better unless we make it better.

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[–] EvilEyedPanda@lemmy.world 48 points 11 months ago
[–] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 44 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Same reason I hate it when the housing market is described at "strong" in Australia? In what way? Is the market providing housing for all who need it? No?

Then it's weak and I'll have none of this "strong" housing market bullshit.

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[–] brothershamus@kbin.social 42 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You mean how can some people barely survive while others have millions or even, wtf, billions? NBCnews? That's your question?

Boy that's a question right there NBCnews. Yessir a real head-scratcher. Hmm! Boy howdy, the mind reels at what could be the cause of such a huge imbalance in our society. I suppose we'll just never FUCKING KNOW.

[–] ElleChaise@kbin.social 11 points 11 months ago

Back to work.

[–] return2ozma@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Hey, at least some of us get an office pizza party.

[–] notannpc@lemmy.world 38 points 11 months ago

That’s capitalism working exactly as expected.

[–] Wooster@startrek.website 38 points 11 months ago

Utilities have also been on the rise, and this year Ortigoza isn’t planning on turning on the home’s heater, even with temperatures dipping into the 30s at night. Instead, she plans to wear extra clothes around the house and bundle her daughter in blankets.

I just want to say… Don't do that.

If you want burst water pipes, then that is how you do it.

Instead, let your house drop to uncomfortably cold temperatures, but with still a buffer above freezing. The thermostat is only accurate for wherever it's placed in the house. It's not able to tell you what temperature your pipes are at the distant ends of the house.

If you're going to turn the heat off at below freezing, then you need to empty your pipes first, and no one is going to do that.

But yeah… I felt I needed to get that out of the way first.

Anyway, wages and unemployment are getting 'better', but that means very little if it's still not a living wage.

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 33 points 11 months ago (2 children)

As we all know, the word "economy" means "rich people's yachts".

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

Nice 'economy' you got there. Be a shame if this Dewalt cordless drill with 40mm carbide holesaw happened to it.

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

Glad people are starting to wake up to this.

[–] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 28 points 11 months ago

Because trickle down economy unsurprisingly doesn't work. Good question tho.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago

Good economy: Rich people get much richer. Poor people stay poor despite the good economy.

Bad economy: Poor people pay to keep rich people rich, despite the bad economy.

[–] trackcharlie@lemmynsfw.com 23 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Anyone saying the 'economy is strong' doesn't know jack shit about economics let alone macroeconomics.

[–] ultranaut@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

It's relatively strong given all the crap that's happened in recent years. Inflation is finally down, unemployment remains low, median wages have grown faster than inflation, etc. Things aren't great for a lot of people obviously, but shit could easily be so much worse.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Supply side is doing great!

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

We were over at my mother's yesterday and we were talking about grocery prices and my mother asked my wife how much we paid for milk and my wife says she doesn't look, because it doesn't matter when we need milk regardless. I don't look either. It's the same with gas prices. I hear they've gone way down, but I've honestly stopped looking. What difference does it make what a gallon of gas costs when I need that gallon no matter what it costs?

[–] BobGnarley@lemm.ee 11 points 11 months ago

I like to pay attention though so you can see firsthand how bad things are getting. I remember selling shoes to old people and all the employees would joke that they all had no sane grip on the fact that prices go up. They'd say at 80 years old, well when I was 30 that used to be $X thats way too high of a price! Its funny though because we will never experience that. We are used to it being this way year to year much less 30 or 40 years from now. So much so that some people dont even check the price anymore, we just know its higher than it used to be automatically. It's sad.

[–] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 19 points 11 months ago (3 children)

That's because the economy is strong... for the rich.

The problem is shareholders expect infinite growth from a finite space, and that growth has to come from somewhere.

If you're already producing as many of your product, as cheaply as you can get away with, then the only thing you can do is charge more - but that strategy only works if the worker's wages don't go up with the profits.

As a result prices are going up, but worker's salaries aren't anywhere near as quickly, because the rich are scooping the extra cash and leaving all the working class to starve.

[–] r00ty@kbin.life 8 points 11 months ago

I've been working since the mid 90s and in the corporate sphere since the early 2000s.

From this experience I think we go through cycles. If you remember the 80s we had movies like wall street. "Greed, for want of a better word is good"

I think we're around about that point again. I received a directive from way up top and it was about priorities. Profit, shareholders, reducing cost and then customers. Customers were last and employees not even in the list. Unironically straight up customers last no mention of employees.

Through the 90s it was quite different, investors in people was a big thing, there was a lot of focus on team dynamic, wage rises were good, fully comped end of year parties. This kind of thing.

Then I watched this very slow drift away from this. Entire departments and then offices being closed. Below inflation payrises becoming the norm and the bare minimum from the company. Legal minimum pension match, no end of year anything comped. If lucky you'll get lunch at a corporate meeting.

The only thing that keeps me sane is the hope that we're near the end of the cycle and things turn around. It's depressing at this point.

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[–] Mediocre_Bard@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] Chakravanti@sh.itjust.works 6 points 11 months ago

Corporate Slavery.

[–] Synthead@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The US doesn't tax properly

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[–] FireTower@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I wish someone had told me the economy was strong again earlier. Here I was thinking that hyper inflation was a bad thing.

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[–] Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 11 months ago (3 children)

It’s incredible to me that people need over $2k a month for food. I go to Sam’s once a week to replenish supplies and feed a house of six, two adults and four boys between 10-14, on $800-$1000 a month. That includes a ribeye or new york strip dinner every Saturday so theirs still plenty that could be cut. What the hell are people eating?

[–] CraigeryTheKid@lemm.ee 27 points 11 months ago (8 children)

I sound like you, but I bet your answer is that we're buying groceries and preparing a lot of those meals.

Single parents or busy ones that can't do that have to buy ready food.

A classic tale of "it's expensive to be poor".

[–] Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

So I started looking at prices since my comment and I think you hit the nail on the head. It’s astounding to me what the difference in cost is for premade or hell even just not bulk. I had no idea how much I was saving with a vacuum sealer and apparent luxury of having a large pantry and large standup freezer to go with the kitchen fridge/freezer. I don’t think I could make it through more than a couple days using a top of fridge freezer if that’s all I had. So bulk buying wouldn’t even really be possible as a typical renter. Just the wasted time having to shop multiple times a week (not just grabbing something but legit grocery shopping) sounds miserable and the expense from extra trips doesn’t help any.

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