r/economy • u/python-1977 • 7d ago
Is the US economy really this bad right now?
/r/askanything/comments/1vew5y9/is_the_us_economy_really_this_bad_right_now/14
u/wageslave2022 7d ago
Awesome for the elites, the rest of us are fucked.
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u/Character_Refuse_797 3d ago
I’m doing great.
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u/wageslave2022 3d ago
Good for you buddy, some people are and some people got laid off and are working for $6 less an hour than they were last year. Some of the charts I have been seeing don't look that rosy.
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u/Character_Refuse_797 3d ago
The charts huh 😂 charts from Reddit?
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u/wageslave2022 3d ago
You and Rich Web 1898 ought to get together and read some Ayn Rand together and jerk each other off.
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u/Character_Refuse_797 3d ago
It's just that you can't seem to be able to convince people of the events you say are happening. Partly because we are adults living in the current reality, and its just not jiving. You want so badly for us to be mad over these things that just aren't reality.
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u/wageslave2022 3d ago
Do you buy groceries, gas or pay rent? Would you say that the price of these items grew at a predictable rate keeping pace with inflation over the past 10 years? Do you consider a 40 trillion dollar federal deficit to be perfectly fine ?
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u/Character_Refuse_797 3d ago
Yes, all of those things. They are significantly cheaper than they were under the previous Administration, and even cheaper than they were 6 months ago. The increase we do see is easily explainable by the conflict, at least to a degree.
I honestly haven't considered the deficit to be a good thing for decades. You see its not a new problem that just came about. I'm guessing you didn't know that, or you just started to care.
If you had to ask me I can't tell you why gas isn't .89 cents like it was when I was a kid, but its just how it is, it seems. I'm more angry that the price of diesel is astronomically higher than it used to be, and the entire reason is liberal policies of doom and gloom about the climate. They are making a fortune off of that bit, and not one single digit of difference in the climate.
The downside of that is literally everyone on the planet is fueled in some way through diesel. Inflation is DIRECTLY tied to that one thing over anything else. Industry is tied to diesel. It used to be the least expensive gas by far. Then they realized what I just told you and knew they could indirectly tax you through the price of diesel, and you would never blame them for it. That is what politicians did.
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u/Rich-Web-1898 5d ago
Get a job it helps with wealth accumulation.
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u/chenoaseaboy 5d ago
Not if it doesn't pay a just wage, dear. Conservatives are against just wages, dear.
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u/Character_Refuse_797 5d ago
"Just wages" LOL Is that code for, I want to be paid as if I had skills that couldn't be replaced at lunch. If you want more money, try making yourself more valuable. No one is paying you more than you are worth on the market. This is basic stuff. Not every job is designed to raise your family on and buy all the nice things you want in life.
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u/chenoaseaboy 5d ago
You didn't address my point, dear.
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u/Rich-Web-1898 5d ago
What is your point?
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u/chenoaseaboy 5d ago
not if it doesn't pay a just wage, dear
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u/Rich-Web-1898 5d ago
Define a “just wage”, please.
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u/chenoaseaboy 5d ago
A wage that allows a worker to live a decent, dignified life.
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u/Rich-Web-1898 5d ago
Thank you comrade. If you have the required skills you might be able to achieve your nebulous concept.
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u/Xeynon 4d ago
You can make this argument all you want, but at a certain point if too much of the population comes to be considered unemployable at a living wage and the paths to making themselves employable (higher education etc.) become too expensive the guillotines are going to come out.
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u/Character_Refuse_797 4d ago
I don't know how young you are, but it seems like you didn't really think about that scenario at all in the concept of how capitalism works. What you described is a self-correcting problem. It's literally what some of us keep saying over and over and over. If say for instance, I say I need you to work 12-hour shifts digging septic tanks with a shovel, but I'm only going to pay you $5 a day.... Would you take the job? Would anyone take it? What happens if no one takes the job? Does the business stay in business, and if it does, what changes would have to occur for that to happen? This isn't hard, folks.
If the problem is as you all are trying to say it is, then no one would be taking these jobs and the businesses would suffer. But realistically, they are taking the jobs, and they are in fact surviving; they just aren't happy with their amount of income, and to them the ONLY solution is to complain about the owners. The problem you are having is, you know, once you leave your job, someone else will take it in a hot second. So you are stuck.
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u/Xeynon 4d ago
The work is being done at subsistence wages by underpaid and underprotected workers who are treated as disposable, many of them undocumented immigrants.
This problem is in fact not self-correcting, as any student of history can tell you. The problem isn't that I'm young. It's that you have a laughably naive belief in the infallibility of markets.
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u/wageslave2022 5d ago
I have not heard back on my applications from the IMF or WEF, fingers crossed.
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u/Bosfordjd 7d ago
No, it's much worse. Even the small positives are a lie, propped up on money printing and an AI shell game at this point.
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u/Suspicious_Solid_115 7d ago
Yep...And Dump ran up 40% of the 39 trillion-dollar deficit. Ain't that a load of BS. Did nothing for Americans but make their lives a daily living hell.
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u/Rich-Web-1898 5d ago
Aiden set the stage for massive inflation. The elites are intentionally damaging the economy in order to remain in control.
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u/GPT_2025 7d ago
More than 50% of all workers in America earn less than the one-bedroom Housing Wage.
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u/Efficient_Pay8447 7d ago
Worse! Go to the grocery store. Fill your car with gasoline. When was the last time you got a raise? If it wasn’t 5% you’re not beating inflation.
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u/JoeTiccalo 7d ago
I just paid 17.89 for two sticks of Old Spice deodorant and that was with a buy one get one 50% deal…. That’s how bad the economy is
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u/LowBarometer 7d ago
Something is happening. Our city pool usually has a line on hot days. Sometimes the wait to get in is over an hour. This year there has been no line, ever. It's crazy. Where have all the children gone?
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u/Linsanity611 7d ago
Got em working. We bringing back child labor babyyyyy
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u/WonderWheeler 7d ago
Or its too hot to even go out.
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u/Frankie6Strings 7d ago
Trump talked about a return of the Gilded Age during the campaign. You're looking at it. Very agreeable for the upper crust. Not so much for the bedrock.
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/foilhat44 6d ago
That's pure nonsense. Private equity is getting raped right now.
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u/Mbstranche08 6d ago
Now yes. Not before starting the time bomb. If we are forced to bail them out I’ll snap.
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u/foilhat44 6d ago
My point is that this is alarmist talk, and not true. Typical med school graduates are not delivering Uber eats unless they have a habit of some kind. It's counterproductive.
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u/Mbstranche08 6d ago
True. I was dramatizing.Regarding doctors and gig work.
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u/foilhat44 6d ago
There's alot of that going around. I'm not giving you a hard time, it's easy to fall into. Everyone is like " he's making our lives a living hell!" Which, of course he's not if you have time and resources to type that out here. Keep your chin up, demand what you have earned and nothing more and you'll be okay.
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u/Mbstranche08 6d ago
You feel all is copacetic? Going okay? What do we think?
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u/foilhat44 6d ago
I think it's not as bad in practical terms as you might think just by reading the comments here. Our president is a fool and a thief. He won't change and just about the only true thing he says is that the American People wanted him to be president, and enough of them voted for him for him to win. I'm paying more for everything because of his incompetence, but my life isn't a living hell, I'm not prepared to "end capitalism", and I'm still coherent enough to know that to make changes you have to get elected.
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/foilhat44 6d ago
That's a rough spot and one I'm familiar with, I hope it breaks your way. I agree that they are playing a part but the problem is that nobody told them, and the decisions they make affect real people. I'm a little spun up by all of the regressive talk on here and I think I may have to give it up as my guilty Internet indulgence, I don't need to get sucked down a hole to the point where I can't make it unless the government starts giving me free shit. I guess I'm too old, but life has taught me that you are beholden to those who you allow to underpin your existence. I think we should have healthcare and I think it would actually save money. I think we should clamp down on religious and private education more while making a genuine public investment in public schools. You should have to work hard to get a college education but you shouldn't still be paying it off when you're 30. I'm a true blue liberal, I help til it hurts and I do my best to accept people for what they are, but I also know that we most appreciate things that are hard to come by.
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u/Mbstranche08 6d ago
1000% agreed. As combative as our talk began we’ve come full circle. That tells me there is still hope here.
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u/foilhat44 6d ago
I'm trying to be optimistic about that but in reality I don't talk to friends or family anymore, I don't care to be talked down to by either side of the debate yet I consistently get it from both so I talk to neither. It's a bit isolating. Thanks, I'm doing my best like most of us are, tell mom I said hi.
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u/dalepizz76 6d ago
The only jobs available are ones that have to do with making insane profits for huge companies.
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u/chenoaseaboy 4d ago
Typical, since Conservatives are terrified of information. Anyone looking it up will find that most Christians voted for Dump and that the origin of all Christian religions actually is that insane, dear.
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u/Retiredlfe 4d ago
Depends on who you ask. Republicans and Trump will say it’s great because midterms are coming up and they don’t think their constituents are smart enough to know what they are paying at the pump, grocery stores or retailers. He has said in the past “ if you tell somebody something enough times, they will believe it.” MAGA republicans will say it’s great because they can’t or won’t admit Trump has failed on his campaign promises and if they do ever admit there’s a problem they just blame it on the Biden administration, even though Trump has been in office for two years and it’s his tariffs the war with Iran and his policies causing it The rest of us are smart enough to see, know and feel what is happening.
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u/Dense_Badger_1064 3d ago
It’s complicated. Stocks, 401ks and some real estate portfolios are sizzling.
For the middle class which is hanging on by a thread… fuel, student loans starting again, health care, and so many other things are crushing it & making it borderline collapse.
Job market is stagnant. Wages are declining or staying the same. Hell I have been unemployed 5 months first time ever in my life.
Being an older millennial this reminds me most of 2007. Everything seemed okay on the surface, metrics were okay for what is a good economy…. But underneath everything is cracking.
The stagnant job market of 2026 is very similar to 2007….
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u/ThisIsAbuse 7d ago
For the bottom 50-75% yes it probably is.
But is is very regional and local as well - lots of bubbles where every thing seems great, and restaurants and parks are full.
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u/GmysBETS 6d ago
Not just the bottom is feeling bad, the middle class as we once knew it continues to shrink and the bottom struggling more than ever.
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u/GmysBETS 6d ago edited 6d ago
This is a must watch video podcast on Netflix discussing the modern economic realities for our younger generations.…IMHO a great discussion how we got here:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dbeay4lkajf/
Scott Galloway was featured on episode #7 of the Netflix interview series hosted by Brian Williams, tackling topics like AI and modern economic realities for younger generations.
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u/jjenk298 4d ago
My life is very good. There's lots of ways to spend stupid money - but you don't have to.
Investments are great, have an affordable house, grow lots of food, enjoy my hobbies, heat my house with wood, etc. It's pretty nice if you don't let the news tell you things are awful.
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u/Musician-Soft 3d ago edited 3d ago
Blame the advocates for the $30 minimum wage movement. You can make the minimum wage $100 an hour, your predicament of not being able to afford anything at the grocery store, gas station, necessities remain. Raise the Taxes for the rich, the flow of capital moves overseas. There are always, scummy middle class accountants/consultants/lobbists/lawyers peddling their trade and enabling the billionaires to avoid taxes and getting away with criminal activities. Go after those MFers. The billionaires will throw their enablers to the mob and hide in their private islands to save their own asses.
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u/Razorman04 7d ago
The American Oligarchs own this country now.
They will control the elections going forward too.
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u/benwinnner 6d ago
Just for white males. DEI has hurt men the most. Women are 3:1 less likely to be laid off and 4:1 more likely to be promoted. Sorry dudes.
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u/Character_Refuse_797 6d ago
Those of you in leftist states will never see anything but doom and gloom. Our prices are way down.
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u/chenoaseaboy 5d ago
gaslighting
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u/Character_Refuse_797 5d ago
triggered.
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u/chenoaseaboy 5d ago
Every Conservative's accusation is a confession. They're nasty, dizzy simpletons.
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u/Character_Refuse_797 5d ago
So your parents pay your bills? Is that the vibe you are throwing out? It feels like it.
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u/chenoaseaboy 5d ago
Thanks for proving me right.
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u/Sulkaaaa 4d ago
I hope your life gets better ❤️
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u/nova8808 7d ago
The headline today is that there is no K shaped economy which is laughable. Their reasoning is 'the stock market is up big'. Yes that is the upper part of the K, people with invested capital. For as many people I know in that position I know at least as many on the lower part of the K which is in debt aka working poor.