this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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Biden goes into 2024 with the economy getting stronger, but voters feel horrible about it (apnews.com)
submitted 11 months ago by GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca to c/usnews@beehaw.org
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[–] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

It's very curious to me how the economic indicators can seem so positive while people are still feeling the pangs of increased prices across the board.

There have been various articles/studies shared recently which indicate corporations have been taken advantage of consumers. We've heard terms like "greed'flation" to describe it. This article then says Biden alluding to this "is suspicious to many economists."

Are economic indicators not able to capture "greedflation"? Is it a thing or not? Something I need to do more reading on I suppose.

UPDATE: example article / study

[–] Overzeetop@beehaw.org 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don't think the "indicators" are a useful metric of personal betterment, which is what makes individual people feel better about the economy. Stock market being up, interest rates and inflation going down, productivity up and salaries on the increase are all positive conditions. But if your salary isn't rising as fast as the combined inflation of the past 4 years and all of your companies profits are feeding dividends and stock buy-backs instead of plant expansion and increasing benefits then it's a net negative in your bank account at the end of the month. Insurance rates - auto, health, homeowners (esp if you're coastal) are soaring up, which hits the average pocketbook but probably has no weight in economic indicators. Lord help you if you're paying tuition or taking out loans for college. It's more than $4000 per class at a typical state university, if you're not subsidized by scholarship or the state.

It doesn't help that the news cycle is (somewhat rightly) pointing out how imbalanced and broken the socioeconomic system is.

[–] GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca 1 points 11 months ago

Exactly this.

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@feddit.ch 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Even if the inflation rate lowers the existing prices of things won't go down. Also, the inflation still exists so prices will continue to go up, just at a slower pace. The US government needs to quit printing money for starters

[–] zhunk@beehaw.org 3 points 11 months ago

A windfall tax could be cool

[–] FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org 6 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I imagine in a country where most people have to work two or three jobs in order to live, there might be a dearth of optimism about the future.

Add on to that whole generations of people shackled with lifetime debt over student loans and watching Biden's government do nothing meaningful about escalating housing scarcity, and the problem is compounded.

The big priorities for Biden seem to be making up ways to get more of our money dumped into Ukraine and keeping his asshole son out of prison.

When we inaugurate an open fascist in 2025, you'll have Biden to blame.

[–] HumbleFlamingo@beehaw.org 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The big priorities for Biden seem to be making up ways to get more of our money dumped into Ukraine

We are not sending pallets of cash to Ukraine. The money is buying arms and equipment that is being sent to Ukraine. The arms and equipment are produced here, in the US. The VAST majority of the money is going into the US economy. It's literally creating good paying jobs here in the US.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

We are not sending pallets of cash to Ukraine.

Yes we are, just not only that.

The money is buying arms and equipment that is being sent to Ukraine. The arms and equipment are produced here, in the US.

It's the same thing.

It's literally creating good paying jobs here in the US.

No, it isn't, because our government doesn't mandate a living wage nor regulate the prices of war materials, and in fact, there's been extensive reporting on price gouging in the war industry.

Further, the latest batch of Ukraine spending was funded by cutting funds to the IRS, so we're not only losing money now, but in the future too.

Also, frankly, I'm sick of hearing these excuses decade after decade from warmongers and their supporters.

[–] HumbleFlamingo@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Further, the latest batch of Ukraine spending was funded by cutting funds to the IRS, so we’re not only losing money now, but in the future too.

Yeah, blame the republicans for that one.

No, it isn’t, because our government doesn’t mandate a living wage nor regulate the prices of war materials,

You may not like what is being produced, but the jobs producing arms are good paying.

and in fact, there’s been extensive reporting on price gouging in the war industry.

For sure. It never should have been privatized.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, blame the republicans for that one.

LOL

The rallying cry of cognitive dissonance.

[–] pbjamm@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You have proved without doubt that your opinions on important matters are meaningless. Your first few comments were indicative, but this is just irrefutable proof.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You're right.

I should lower my expectations when we give Democrats the majority in Congress and the presidency, because nothing they promised is going to happen. And even though they have plenty of power to make meaningful change, it's always going to be the Republicans' fault that they didn't.

[–] pbjamm@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You should probably learn the difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate and what their respective jobs are before embarrassing yourself in a public forum.

After that you can move on to current events and political news so maybe you can grok why your belief that Democrats "have plenty of power to make meaningful change" is so laughable.

I wont get my hopes up though. Best wishes from BC.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org 3 points 11 months ago

If only people could eat excuses for why Democrats don't wield power when they have it. Student lunch debt would no longer exist.

[–] fwygon@beehaw.org 5 points 11 months ago

Further, the latest batch of Ukraine spending was funded by cutting funds to the IRS, so we’re not only losing money now, but in the future too.

That's factually untrue. The IRS has not been defunded; but House Republicans have been in such disarray that currently no government agency is getting more funding.

It's been the Republicans demanding the cuts; not the Democrats, who would rather spend money so that we can fund everything important appropriately so that real recovery from the pandemic is felt by the people.

The Republicans are demanding we reduce our debt at a time where that's just not practical and are holding our budget hostage so much that our credit is being slashed.

The Republicans have been disrupting the financial state of the country. They caused the ding on our credit. They have consistently refused to compromise throughout this entire session of Congress.

[–] Overzeetop@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

our government doesn’t mandate a living wage

Two words: Davis Bacon

[–] HalJor@beehaw.org 4 points 11 months ago

Davis-Bacon has a very limited scope -- it doesn't apply to the entire workforce.

[–] zhunk@beehaw.org 6 points 11 months ago

The new batch of student loan forgiveness should help 3.6 million people.

Inflation is slowing overall and some prices are "deflating".

How is Joe Biden interfering with his son's cases? Can you give some examples?

I think you're misrepresenting the Ukraine support, but another comment covered that.

Doomers gonna doom. Are there any specific ways you would approach some of these problems differently?

[–] Karzyn@beehaw.org 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

most people have to work two or three jobs

That number is 5.1% of all employed Americans, a far cry from "most". Here's the source.

[–] Zworf@beehaw.org 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

That's enough to sway the delicate balance between Trump and Biden though.

Not that Trump will actually solve this but he tends to resonate with those people. I don't know how people with nary a cent to spare think a billionare has their best interests at heart but anyway.

[–] Karzyn@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago

Oh, I won't dispute that at all. I'm more concerned about a comment making a completely false claim. 5% matters but so does telling the truth in your comments.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 11 months ago

🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:

Click here to see the summary“Consumers have been feeling broadly uneasy about the economy since the pandemic, and they are still coming to grips with the notion that we are not returning to the pre-pandemic ‘normal,’” Joanne Hsu, director and chief economist of the survey, said of the overall trend in recent months.

Jared Bernstein, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, stressed that a strong underlying economy is “absolutely necessary” to eventually lifting consumer sentiment.

As the annual inflation rate has fallen, GOP messaging has focused instead on multi-year increases in consumer prices without necessarily factoring in wage gains.

Administration officials had once assumed that better economic numbers would overcome any doubts among voters, only to find that the negativity stayed even as the U.S. economy became likely to avoid a recession once forecasted by economists.

As a result, there’s a lag before a slowing rate of inflation boosts how consumers feel, according to a recent analysis by the economists Ryan Cummings and Neale Mahoney.

Adjusting for government transfers and taxes, the average annual income for someone in the lower half of earners was $34,800 when Biden took office, according to an analysis provided by Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

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