The Worst Best Economy Ever Why Biden is getting no credit for the boom
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/biden-economy-election/678431/
The Worst Best Economy Ever Why Biden is getting no credit for the boom
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/biden-economy-election/678431/
35 comments
A lot of reporters and media outlets are either determined to cover both sides so impartially as to normalize fascism, or they’re outright pushing for Trump to win because they miss the engagement and clicks.
Or they’re the NYT and they’re salty that Biden won’t give them the interview they feel entitled to.
why do presidents even get credit?
Because millionaires and billionaires own most of the media and they would rather have Trump than Biden as President so they can make more money off the backs of Americans. Those that control the past control the present those that control the present controls the future.
Allow me to state it clearly:
Financially successful people are doing well.
Middle class and lower employed people are finding that their money is losing value and that expenses are rising faster than they can afford.
Tiering, shrinkflation, additional fees, everything turning into a subscription service, and other widespread consumer abuse were all used to maintain high share prices as a result of the stratospheric rise in financial assets. In essence, consumers these days are handled more like prey.
It’s a tough situation to assess. The numbers do look good, but there are some real issues which disproportionately impact lower-income people, such as spikes in the prices of housing, cars, insurance, and energy. Income gains are great, but they can be rapidly erased by a single accident or a hike in your rent. So I don’t think people are crazy or deluded in seeing an economy that’s not working for them. It’s possible, like I believe JP Morgan assessed lately, that there’s a recession among the lower classes while everyone else is doing great.
Its only a good economy if you look at the unemployment numbers and the stock market.
If you look at the average person’s budget they are getting crushed by rent, food prices, and debt.
It’s complicated because some people aren’t feeling the benefits of economic growth due to rising costs and inequalities, despite overall positive numbers. Addressing these issues, like fair wages, affordable housing, and healthcare, could make the growth more tangible for everyone. Let’s advocate for solutions that help more people directly.
Who exactly is the economy good for??? Everything is expensive and shopping for groceries has become insane.
You keep trying to make, “The economy is great, you’re all just stupid” happen. It’s never gonna happen. The rich getting richer does not = the American economy is great.
The stock market /= “the economy”
You want people to *feel* like the economy is doing well, instead of just seeing it on paper? Raise the minimum wage.
Whose wages are increasing exactly? I work for one of the biggest companies in the biotechnology sector, and I’ve gotten less than $4/hr increase total over the last 3 years.
For the millionth time, it’s because the average Joe or Jane doesn’t actually see the benefits of a good economy when the upper class determines they can keep price gouging like it’s Covid times and just keep making more on top of more simply because they can. What did we expect, them to do the right thing and bring prices back down when supply chain issues got worked out? Don’t be silly, not when they can keep selling it for that!
Not to mention the reductions in force that businesses decided are fine to just keep the way they are. They’ll let the poor saps like me do the work of 5 people, because they can.
The average Joe doesn’t care about the stock market unless they have their head too far up someone like trump’s ass. They care about their grocery bill, their electric bills, etc.
I saw that 49% of the American people think that unemployment is currently at a 50 year high.
Unemployment is currently below 4%.
Because every day the corporations and the rich increase their control over not just the economy but every aspect of our lives. You are not allowed to owns things, you are the product and every second of your day is being monitored and fed to AI. It’s not some future dystopia it’s here now and it is only going to get worse.
No credit because everyday people don’t see it. We see more inflation, higher rent, higher grocery cost, unaffordable car/used vehicle costs. It’s not hard to figure out.
Everyone I know is struggling to buy groceries and pay rent, the economy doesn’t mean shit to someone if they can’t eat or stay housed.
My rent is going up $115 and last I checked shinkflation is in full swing. The executive branch is doing ok besides a limp foreign policy. Congress sucks and the judiciary sucks…
Most of my friends and family WORK and can’t afford to fix cars, groceries, really anything they want or need is a sacrifice. If you want us to think the economy is good, then make it so that we don’t dread going to the grocery store, and sacrificing foods like vegetables to save money at the expense of our health
Gotta tackle housing and food prices, that’s it. The economic boom for rich people doesn’t feel like an economic boom when the only thing you’re seeing is rent and the price of milk climbing faster than your paycheck.
The wealth gap/inequality in this country is larger than ever and is projected to continue to widen.
Like how is this not clear enough? Is anybody even listening? Fucking hell.
Ugh I’m so sick of these “everything is fine” ingratiating puff pieces.
I’m voting for Biden because only an idiot or a psychopath would vote otherwise, but let’s not pretend that stock market growth is a particularly good indicator of an economy full of sunshine and rainbows. Megacorps are juicing basic goods and services, and as a result far fewer people have enough discretionary income to reap the benefits of the booming market. It’s great for people who already got theirs, but it is very difficult for most Americans to get ahead when home prices doubled in a very short amount of time and almost everything has been commodified. Until Congress gets off their ass and readjusts the tax code to financially disincentivize unrestrained greed and hoarding, wealth inequality will only get worse, even if the stock market is on an even bigger cocaine binge than it was at the end of 2021 with all the free money getting funnelled into corporations that didn’t need it.
Pretty sure the entirety of the middle working class and below can tell you the economy isn’t doing anything for them
Corporate greed has double the price of my groceries and my company is doing a mandatory furlough and taking 2 weeks of my pay to save 1.5% of their profit margin. But hey at least the stock market investors are making money right?
Because its “improved” in a way that doesn’t fucking matter for most people. Similar to how the vast majority of student loan exemptions have been for people who, frankly, should have had shit figured out already.
Like come on how have you been a federal employee with a degree for 10+ years and still owe money to the school smh
I think this ends if and when consumers stop being prey. If an average new car (SUV) costs $42k and over $700/mo, why is it essential?
If a meal for one at Five Guys costs $20, just why do people buy it?
I know no one wants to sacrifice vs what things were like pre-pandemic, but that was then, this is now.
My guess- the markets will correct themselves, but only when there’s blood on the floor. It might take a while. Presidential election will effect many things, but not people living above their means like never before.
As for me, my 2016 car gets me around just fine.
Biden doesn’t control much about the economy. That’s true enough. But running on the economy when people must choose between rent or eating that month is fucking stupid.
The economy is only working for his big donors so find a new message.
There’s no “actual” inflation.
Just corporate greed and price gouging.
BECAUSE IT IS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE WORKING CLASS
Jesus fuck
Fox News is cancer
The economy is absolutely god-awful for any actual living breathing people. It’s good only for corporations… and it will remain this way until criminal penalties are applied to upper management/CEOs (not just fining a corporation) for price gouging and other exploitative practices.
The “economy” doing well generally just means that banks and investors are seeing healthy and safe returns on capital invested. The lower and middle class are currently being squeezed and it’s actually great for the economy because American workers are producing more output when they have to work several jobs and whatever else just to buy groceries and pay rent.
It’s obvious why. Food, electricity, insurance, homes and cars are all too expensive. It’s happening on Biden’s watch so he gets the blame. Not always fair, but that’s how this shit works.
The Atlantic has been running different versions of this same article for like the past 8 months.
Do they think that the single mothers working as waitresses are gonna read this and think “no you’re right, I should be grateful”
What would actually make them feel different is, you know, policy that directly benefits them. They see our congress bending over backwards to give foreign governments hundreds of billions in aid, and they’re pissed because they can’t afford groceries.
Sadly, neither side is going to do anything to directly benefit them. All they can do is protest vote. But even then the republicans aren’t gonna make it any better for them.
But it’s sad because congress is so busy sending money abroad, that the democrats don’t even propose things like enhanced child tax credits. If they did, it would never pass given where congress is but at least they would be able to point to republicans and truthfully say “they’re the reason you’re struggling” – but they don’t even do that.
Groceries have literally just under doubled in price in the last three years. We used to get away with spending about $150 per big trip, and now it is somewhere between $250 and $300… Who gives a shit if the stock market is doing good if you can’t afford to feed yourself or pay rent…
Its a great economy if you already own assets like property and stocks, but if you dont then you probably dont feel as good about it.
Again, the rich get richer because everyone else is left paying higher prices to compensate for the increased value of the assets owned by the rich.