• the_q@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Fuck the economy. Make my goddamn grocery bill go down. Make the fucking rent go down. I’m so sick of the rich dictating every aspect of my life while I barely get by all so they can tell me “everything’s great!”

    • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      The economy is booming because of all the money corporations are charging you for your food and rent.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Fuck the economy. Make my goddamn grocery bill go down. Make the fucking rent go down.

      These things are actually the things that make up the economy.

      The problematic thing with inflation is that when people get a pay raise they think it’s not because the economy improved, it’s because they worked hard for that pay raise. Sure no one’s disputing that you worked hard, but if you worked hard and the economy didn’t improve you wouldn’t have gotten that pay raise.

      And yeah food prices are high. Something about a land war in the part of Europe that produces a lot of the global grain supply may have something to do with that. That situation would be resolved sooner if the GOP stopped blocking the funding to go towards ending that situation sooner.

      Real estate… yeah that’s because the rich suck. Gotta tax those bastards so they don’t keep dumping their excess wealth into real estate which drives up prices. But again, the GOP isn’t going to approve of that.

      Biden has done insanely well on the economy despite the efforts of the GOP to sabotage him.

      So be angry, but know who to be angry at. The guys blocking things have a majority in congress and has the filibuster in the Senate. Maybe that should change?

      • the_q@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        My anger is aimed squarely at the correct people and things. I know how this shit show works. People making minimum wage, you know the largest group of earners, hasn’t had a raise regardless of the “economy” in nearly 15 years barring a few blue states. This country grows tons of food that just gets shipped off or used for plastic so if grain production is the issue it’s a logistics issue and not a supply issue. Our government is ineffective for the average person. It’s amazingly effective for the rich and corps. There is nothing we can do about it either because voting is a performative act instead of a meaningful one. Our 2 presidential candidates are thousand year old dust factories. They’re supported by either 100 year old dust factories or younger sociopaths who are only in it for power and money. At the local level it’s meaningless because of you’re in a red area there’s no way to win and if you’re in a blue area everyone’s too busy patting each other on the back for not being red that they still don’t fucking do a good job.

        The problem isn’t me being angry, it’s that more people aren’t.

        Edit: I was wrong about the number of minimum wage workers.

        • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          People making minimum wage are not the largest group of earners, its actually a very tiny minority of workers that earn the minimum wage.

          • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            This person just wants to be angry. They haven’t proposed anything useful or mentioned anything possible to change. They might feel bad and not vote.

            Don’t let them pull you down to their level. Even if you’re depressed about the state of things, vote anyway. The people causing the problems want you to be depressed and not vote. Vote anyway. You can still complain later.

            Edit: told you

            • the_q@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Don’t put words in my mouth. I do my civic duty. And you want a solution? Burn it to ash and rebuild it.

      • kava@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        So be angry, but know who to be angry at.

        Lockheed Martin and company along with the politicians they own perpetuating endless war, leading us into the abyss while chasing short term profits.

        Both the Gaza war and the Ukraine war are inflationary pressures and the US is pumping billions of dollars into both.

      • the_q@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Man, it’s so great right now. Mark Zuckerberg increased his wealth by $29 billion just yesterday! People with fat stock portfolios are coming in here to tell us we’re wrong about the economy! It’s awesome!

      • Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Ding ding! Record profits? Use a single measley lawsuit and rebrand+spin off your debt and liability, file for bankruptcy and live the American dream.

      • gun@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        No he’s not trying. He’s giving the appearance of trying just in time for 2024. Do you really think Biden is going to take on Blackrock?

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          9 months ago

          Slim chance but still better than the odds of the republicans doing it.

    • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      I wouldn’t get your hopes up on substantially lower grocery bills.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/02/02/grocery-price-inflation-biden/

      But there is no immediate fix for policymakers. Grocery prices remain elevated due to a mixture of labor shortages tied to the pandemic, ongoing supply chain disruptions, droughts, avian flu and other factors far beyond the administration’s control. Robust consumer demand has also fueled a shift to more expensive groceries, and consolidation in the industry gives large chains the ability to keep prices high, economic policy experts say.

      “I think people are waiting for prices to return to what they call ‘normal’ — and with the exception of a few things, like eggs — we’re not going to see that. We’re going to see prices stabilize, and that’s likely it,” said Dawn Thilmany, an agricultural economist and professor at Colorado State University.

      • the_q@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Oh what a bunch of bullshit. They’re gonna blame COVID for everything for the rest of time instead of corporate greed because the same fucking corporations have bought and paid for our entire government.

        • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          That’s not what that says at all.

          What it says is that people are feeling more flush with cash and are opting for higher end brands of food over the store brands or nicer cuts of steak or going out to a nicer restaurant instead of just hitting up McDonald’s or shoneys. This is proof that the economy is doing well.

            • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              If you think mcds is expensive you clearly don’t know how to eat there and you’ve definitely not eaten anywhere with real food. I try to keep my mcds to a min but when I am working and need something I can get out of there with spending like $6 tops, $8+ if I am feeling “fancy” and grab a frozen coffee with an extra shot.

              You’ve also definitely not noticed how packed even the more expensive steak houses are at pretty much all open hours. I’m talking the places where you can’t spend less than $200 for a meal for two.

              I drive for a living and I can tell you for a fact (in my neck of the woods) that the economy is doing just fine, people are doing okay, not as great as they could/should be but most definitely aren’t at poverty level.

              You lot need to start getting your data from sources that aren’t biased and aren’t trying to keep you pissed off so you keep reading the bullshit they call news.

              The stock market hasn’t been a good indicator of the economy for decades now. What is an indicator is what I was correcting a misinterpretation of. If you want to see how the economy is doing in your area, drive around downtown or the other hotspots like music venues and restaurants in the evenings and see how packed it is.

              • hark@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Mcdonalds is expensive for what you get. I don’t eat at steakhouses because they’re similarly overpriced. When I go out to eat, I do so to eat things that are more difficult or time-consuming to make at home and steak is among the easiest. Anyway, the fun part about judging the economy based on how packed venues and restaurants are is that credit goes a long way until it doesn’t. Credit card debt and delinquencies are climbing.

  • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “Economy” is such a bullshit term here. What they really mean is stock market. The real economy is shit. Pay is shit. Healthcare is shit. Real estate is a fat hog that needs to get slaughtered already. When will the people be treated as Too Big To Fail?

    • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Ehh, I think the economy is doing okay. Inflation is being controlled/managed. In some cases it’s correcting itself.

      Don’t lose sight of the forest for the trees. The media in this country has been really pessimistic about the economy and blaming the admin–to the point it seemed intentionally misrepresented.

      This economy could have gone the other way pretty easily especially with the billions thrown into circulation during the pandemic.

      If we want to credit Presidents when the economy is bad, you need to credit them when it’s good too.

      If anything this admin should get credit for being stable and a source of order in all of the chaos–not the cause of it.

      • Telorand@reddthat.com
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        9 months ago

        Ehh, I think the economy is doing okay. Inflation is being controlled/managed. In some cases it’s correcting itself.

        I have to agree. Some people are still certainly struggling, of course. Homelessness is still a problem in places. Many people still live paycheck to paycheck. But the economy isn’t going to fully right itself in four years, especially with a hostile House that controls the purse strings.

        Additionally, nothing has been done about greedflation (yet?). If Congress or Biden can figure out a way to force companies to stop tacitly colluding to squeeze more money from people, I would suspect more people would start to feel more optimistic about their finances (and the economy in general).

      • alucard@sopuli.xyz
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        9 months ago

        The media is owned by billionaires and/or public traded companies. Reporting is skewed to keep the populace complacent.

    • Skates@feddit.nl
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      9 months ago

      Some people are already too big to fail. It’s just not you or me.

      Look at Trump. He’s too big to fail. He’s not in jail, despite numerous counts of accusations, from rigging elections to treason to sexual assault.

      When you’re rich enough or connected enough, you’re too big to fail.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.

        – J. Paul Getty

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          It’s worse, when it’s us g peoples donated election money for personal expenses, including legal expenses. Do the people donating understand that they’re not even getting a campaign out of their cash? Why isn’t this misuse of funds yet another criminal charge?

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Considering the only information they get is within their little bubble which is mostly what Trump tells them, I think they believe they’re helping the most mistreated man in history get out of his very unfair oppression to stop him from saving humanity. And by humanity, they mean America. And by America, they mean white people. And by white people, they mean cishet people.

      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Maybe I should have quoted or capitalized “The People”. I mean the common layperson. trump, Muskrat, and their ilk aren’t “the people”. They are the storied “1%” that depend on social welfare from our government.

    • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      It’s about jobs more than the stock market. The report says over 350k net jobs added in January (more than double expected) and unemployment has been below 4% for two consecutive years (not seen since the ‘60s). Plus inflation is quickly dropping and the administration is lowering costs on things where they can, putting more money in our pockets. It’s legitimately incredible what’s happened with the US economy since the pandemic nearly guaranteed a recession, according to Fox News.

    • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Whatever the fuck they’re saying on the nigntmare box means dick. I’m still poor.

    • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The numbers for the real economy have been good too. The median wage rose faster than inflation in 2023 and unemployment has been consistently low, people are finding work and finally starting to earn more. Obviously things aren’t great for everyone but it’s going way better than anyone expected and it’s heading in a good direction rather than deteriorating further like when inflation was still out of control.

      • FenrirIII@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Biden has called out the greed of businesses, but we’ve seen no action from the government to rein them in.

        • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          How is Biden supposed to have done anything to rein in corporate greed when he’s stuck with a Republican controlled house that refuses to even entertain the faintest notion of the slightest hint of the merest idea of reining it in?

          • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Come on, it’s not like Republicans are against their own bipartisan immigration deal because it would be good for Biden. I’m sure they’ll work with him on the economy…

            Oh.

          • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            The president needn’t do a damn thing. The People need to protest outside of Citizens United office. Its what we need to do. Tear the structure from the Earth and the occupants along with it. Cast them to Tatarus where they belong.

            Citizens United
            1006 Pennsylvania Ave SE
            Washington, DC 20003
            Office: (202) 547-5420
            Fax: (202) 547-5421
            info@citizensunited.org

            • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              How is protesting in front of the office of a random right wing political group in DC going to accomplish anything? They won their court case a long time ago so they seem kind of irrelevant now.

              • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Oh, you mean the people who got Money = free speech codified into law? You dont see how that would help? It shows we know. We know who you are and what you did. And we dont accept it.

                • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  No, I don’t see how that helps anything. They already know we know. They have been protested before and it didn’t change anything, how is it going to have any impact on anything to do it again? You could burn their office down and nothing will change, it’s just a random office belonging to a random political group. They aren’t even really relevant beyond the case they won back in the day so what’s so special about their office now?

          • Spiralvortexisalie@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            The issue with that logic is that Dems will say they can’t get anything done but fear the substantial change that Trump can bring. Like the party’s own stance is more of the same with Biden or certainty of drastic change by voting against Biden. That does not come off like the party elites think it does. I can see how that messaging can work with say the UAW or the already rich who can claim wins during the last four, but many of us really only expected him to not be Trump after the Biden win and somehow even that bar feels missed, the man has lower approval ratings than Trump ever had.

            • ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.com
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              9 months ago

              Well thats just not true. His approval rating is very low for sure, but Trump has got him beat in that metric, he had substantially worse ratings. Still Biden might end with worse approval average if he continues downward in approval ratings, and that’s kinda impressive since Biden hasn’t been doing egregiously corrupt and stupid shit basically daily like Trump did. Golfing at his own resort. Putting his kids into government positions. Firing staff on grounds of “loyalty” like some mob boss. Etc etc. Biden hasn’t even been impeached, let alone twice.

              https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating

            • PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              I don’t know why you’re being downloaded, you’re right here. They fear that Trump is going to be a dictator rightfully, yet Biden’s not allowed to use any power to help the people. That, for some reason, is where the line in the sand is.

          • hark@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Does that mean that bidenomics is actually the work of the republican controlled house? I don’t see how biden can get credit for a supposedly amazing economy but at the same time be powerless to do anything because of congress.

          • PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Threaten to nationalize any business that extorts with the defense production act. Cant have good conscriptees if they are malnourished and mentally ill.

            Lets get creative.

        • protist@mander.xyz
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          9 months ago

          The rate of increase is slowing rapidly: In December, prices for food consumed at home were up by just over 1 percent, according to the Labor Department. But administration officials say Mr. Biden is keenly aware that prices remain too elevated for many families, even as key items, like gasoline and household furnishings, are now cheaper than they were at their postpandemic peak.

          And yet there is a general belief across administration officials and their allies that there is little else Mr. Biden could do unilaterally to force grocery prices down quickly.

          “It’s hard to figure out what the short-term policy response is in this situation,” said Bharat Ramamurti, a former economic aide to Mr. Biden and an author of a report on grocery-price inflation that the progressive Groundwork Collaborative in Washington published on Friday.

          I think we can expect Biden to be loud about grocery prices and grocery store profit margins, because the price of almost everything else has stabilized or gone down. He can issue executive orders that do little to directly influence prices, but any more would require legislation, and, well, the party that controls the House wants higher prices.

          https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/us/politics/biden-food-prices.html

  • GodlessCommie@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The economy is only booming for the rich, anyone trying to tell us otherwise doesn’t care about our well-being. If it were doing well they wouldn’t have to keep telling us, we could see it in our everyday lives.

    • zaphod@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Gas prices are down. General cost of living is stabilized. Unemployment is extremely low and the percentage of eligible workers on the sidelines is dropping. Wages are up for the lowest income levels and continue to climb despite slowing inflation. Black households, in particular, have seen a significant narrowing of the income gap, more so than they’ve seen in many many years. The percentage of women in the workforce is up and salaries are climbing for them as well. In fact, the post-COVID recovery has been wildly successful when you compare it to post-2008 with respect to the improvements for the poorest among us, which is precisely the opposite of what you’re claiming.

      Yours is purely an appeal to anecdote. The data is clear. Unfortunately, as study after study has shown, data can’t compete with vibes, and we just spent the last two years with the MSM (not to mention social media…) telling everyone a recession was around the corner.

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        9 months ago

        Housing costs are sky-high. Rent is ridiculous. Good luck ever trying to own a house. And yeah, cost of living went way way up and now it’s “stabilized” there.

        And to say wages are up is just laughable. I mean, yeah people are now being paid $15 an hour instead of $10, but what does that matter when food and housing costs increased more than that?

        The data is skewed by the people that benefited from raising the price of everything during COVID-19 and then never brought the prices down.

        The rich are richer and they are the measuring stick for the economy because they own all the news sources. It is dramatically worse for the poor now than it was 5 years ago.

        Don’t let bullshit propaganda fool you.

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          9 months ago

          I feel like this CONSTANTLY happens and people just eat it. Prices skyrocket. Then they stop rising or maybe even dip a little but still remain way higher than they originally were and… Problem solved! It’s stabilized! In fact prices are DROPPING! huzzah!

          Makes me wonder if people are really this easily fooled or are they all just being ignored? Lol

        • Doubletwist@lemmy.world
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          Cheapest 1 bedroom rent can find is 2.3k/month.

          Where though? If you’re in a historically HCOL area, then that’s hardly surprising.

          I’m in an easily commutable suburb of one of the largest metro areas in the country and there are 1br apartments available in decent areas for $1000-1200ish. Not what I’d call “cheap” but a far cry from what you’re claiming.

      • GodlessCommie@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I stopped reading at gas prices are down. They are up .40 the last week.

        The data is clear

        The gaslighting is all thats clear. All the data conflicts with your claim. Homelessness up to the highest level ever recorded, housing is unaffordable, food is unaffordable, wages are stagnant, income inequality is the widest ever recorded.

      • KredeSeraf@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I’ll tell that to the out of control housing, rising food costs and the worsening healthcare coverage and quality. Man! So glad these few things you mentioned are superficially better. There’s no problems now!

        /s because you know someone is gonna take it literally.

      • TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        If his is purely anctedote, then yours is decontextualized.

        Gas prices are down.

        Sure. Since a high in June of 2022. The last time gas prices were at this level was June 2021. And the time before that was October 2014. Which is to say, for about 6 years, gas prices were lower than today. And just looking at the graph, they were significantly below today’s level. Just to note, they have yet to return to the levels before the precipitous rise stating in December 2020.

        There maybe, as you noted, vibes, but they ain’t wrong.

        Unemployment should be looked at with, of course participation rate which has held even for the last year, and how long people have been unemployed which has been growing slightly for those unemployed for 27 weeks or more. This also doesn’t address underemployment which disporporstely effects the young and poor. Underemployment colors one’s outlook for stability in the present and future.

        Thankfully, Biden and others in the administration have managed this far better than 2008 for the average citizen. Not having a recession is a good thing. I’ve lived through several. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t looming concerns. Inflation is still higher than the target and instigating further disinflation is uncharted territory.

        Data, in of itself, is not enough. It needs to be contextualized to develop political and social narratives. Addressing people with condescension and dismissing their anxieties as mere vibes fails politically.

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          I think people are expecting all the prices to return to “normal” when that’s probably never going to happen, as a good chunk of the price increases are due to post-covid inflation

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            9 months ago

            the largest driver of inflation during and after the pandemic is companies raising prices, and turning record profits.

  • Delta_V@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    *jobs exist that don’t pay a living wage, sending workers ever deeper into poverty and despair*

    media and politicians: “LoOk At AlL tHe JoBs! BoOmInG eCoNoMy!”

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    9 months ago

    Biden’s administration has done pretty well considering all the grenades the GOP had thrown into the road.

    Imagine how well people could be doing if the GOP actually cared about anyone other than themselves, rich people, or the Russians.

    • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
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      Biden’s administration has done pretty well considering all the grenades the GOP had thrown into the road.

      people who say things like this have never been affected by any former president or the current one in a bad way and most likely do not travel around the US in any capacity

      how has the economy improved under Biden? make it make sense

      was it that higher minimum wage he promised then told workers not to protest and ask for better?

      was it the factory jobs in the south he touted where pay and work condition standards are lower?

      was it his obama style communication relief that helped citizens with things like internet bills that is now ending that only helped with about $25?

      was it that national health insurance he promised that he never mentions?

      yes biden has done some things but not enough or long enough or at all in some cases

      everything he has done has been quartered ass at best and never good enough and always blamed on someone else when he fails to deliver like every president the US has ever had

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        Did you miss the part about the GOP scuppering and hamstringing every attempt by the Dems to make things better for the people?!?!

        Pull your head out of your ass and look at the ACTUAL enemy rather than blaming the Dems for not walking as far as they could if the hurricane of traitorous actions by the GOP was not pushing them back at every step.

    • Kit
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      9 months ago

      Yes but have you considered that the rich are getting richer and therefore the economy is great? Doesn’t matter that us normal folks can’t afford groceries as long as stocks go up.

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      9 months ago

      Just a fyi…we don’t need to take the rich more, we can literally pay for single payer now. This is what kills me, we already spend 3xs as much in healthcare than any other single payer system out there. We’re more than capable of providing that yesterday if we wanted to, but the insurance companies would shit a brick if we told them to pound sand.

    • zaphod@lemmy.ca
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      There have been a quarter million layoffs at tech companies at every level for the last year or so.

      Pro-tip: Tech isn’t the whole economy. Over-indexing on that one sector–and SV tech companies in particular–is incredibly myopic.

      That’s not to say it doesn’t suck for people in the industry (which includes me, by the way), but tech is just one sector that’s experiencing some very specific dynamics (e.g. rising interest rates killing VC investment, overhiring during COVID, the need to goose share prices after stocks reverted to the pre-COVID mean, etc) that should not be extrapolated when considering the broader economy.

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          I’ll be honest, I don’t understand your point.

          What does the value of those company’s stocks (which it’s worth noting are rallying in response to those layoffs) have to do with my point that the underlying causes of the layoffs in tech cannot be extrapolated to the broader economy, and thus action in that sector should not be used as a proxy for overall economic health?

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            So much emphasis is placed on the stock market and yet the stock market is boosted to all-time highs thanks to a handful of tech companies. In fact, these handful of tech companies make up about 25% of the entire S&P 500 (not even counting the many other tech companies on the S&P 500 that aren’t part of this handful). With how much the stock market is talked about as evidence that the economy is doing great, tech plays an oversized role. So if tech companies are being temporarily boosted by layoffs, what do you think comes after? The AI hype cycle will hit a slump and tech stocks will eat shit, as will the broad stock market because tech makes up so much of it. Then suddenly “the economy” ain’t doing so great.

            • zaphod@lemmy.ca
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              A lot of great speculation that has absolutely nothing to do with how the economy is doing right now, which is what I thought we were talking about.

              Also, and I cannot emphasize this enough: the stock market is correlated with economic health but does not measure it directly. In the first half of 2023 the stock market was erratic due to rising interest rates while the real economy–measured by unemployment rates, salaries, etc–was quite healthy. Conversely, the post-2008 recovery was anemic at best for the non-rich while the stock market rallied to all time highs. There’s a reason I’ve never once mentioned the stock market while making the case that the economy is healthy.

              Put another way: your predicted future slump in tech stocks does not therefore mean the economy more broadly will suffer.

              And that’s assuming your prediction plays out, and that remains to be seen. After all, I’ll bet you were predicting that Facebook is on the decline, and yet they announced a truly astonishing quarter.

              And again, none of this is relevant to the state of the economy right now.

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Lemmy: China is spreading propaganda about their failing economy booming in their news!

    Lemmy: The American economy is booming! I read it in our news!

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      There are genuine grievances in the economy; most notably perhaps the affordable housing crisis. My home’s value is so fucking inflated it’s not even funny. It’s not worth what it is appraised for; none of these houses are. Chronic homelessness is at an all-time high.

      That being said — since we are going into election year — we need to frame this not as what we see but what Republicans would normally boast of if Donnie2Scoops was in office.

      • They’d be boasting about unemployment
      • They’d be boasting about low inflation
      • They’d be boasting about lowering gas prices
      • They’d be boasting about stock-market being at an all-time high
      • They’d be boasting about the GDP growth-rate.

      So context matters. By the standards of what Republicans usually tout, the economy is thriving. Which means they’ve got nothing going into an election year… Which means they’re fucked.

      Consider that Democrats won a midterm election during worse economic conditions in what is historically a rough midterm for an incumbent President’s party. Now consider the same with the risk of Democracy on the line, abortion rights, and a strong economy.

      Republicans are fucked. (But still, get 5 people you know to register and vote). Hence why they’re so desperately clinging to this BoRDEr cRiSis as their only issue that’s sticking — and Biden just called their bluff on it.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        There’s quite a few places where right and left agree on some point, but not what to do about it. It’s not Horseshoe Theory, because they only meet in a single place and then run in different directions. They don’t come up with the same solutions at all.

        Republicans say the economy is failing, Democrats do not, but the left also thinks the economy is failing. But the left think it’s failing because it does not provide a base of support for everyone and would like to fix it. Republicans don’t give a shit about that and would prefer to keep pulling the ladder up behind them.

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        This is the thing. We have objective measures of the economy and by those measures (the same ones we’d use to say a Republican is doing a great job) the economy is doing well.

        The broader left becomes something of a useful tool for Republicans to use in election years during these discussions, because while Republicans agree with leftist feelings about the economy until elected. Afterwards, those same metrics they insist are incomplete or don’t count are exactly the things they’ll tout again to say they’re doing a great job.

        Leftists need to get an objective set of metrics together and then consistently grade all policymakers on them. I also think that it’s not solely (or even mostly) up to the president to determine economic policy. Presidents have an effect, for sure, but it’s largely stuff passed through the Congress that impacts the economy.

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
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          Well said. In essence, perfections becomes the enemy of good. Because leftists frankly tend to be more informed on the nuances of the economy — and especially what impacts the poor and middle-class — they have more specific demands. Which is fine, but we must always remember that Republicans will never care about those things; whereas we’re seeing legitimate progress and a reshaping of the Democratic platform in just the last 10 years.

      • TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        People of a certain level and type of education think data and policies mean more than sentiment and messaging. But for many,t he data is secondary. You can see my comment on gas prices and unemployment being rooted in data and vibes. But the vibes for most people are what matters. And the vibes on election day are what matter most to undecided voters. I don’t think either party really gets the sense of dread that most people have and may never get it.

        Which midterm are you talking about? I’m assuming you’re talking about the 2018 mid-term when Democrats picked up 41 seats since they lost the House in 2022. But another way of looking at the last five midterms, you see the midterms going to the party that is not the president’s. So I don’t think that the 2018 midterms provide a great reference point for the presidential election. Additionally, those gains in the 2018 election have slowly eroded giving control in the house to the Republicans.

        But I wanted to address your strategy first and foremost since you address messaging. The projected map has Biden at 226, Trump at 235, and 77 to close to call. Those 77 electoral votes are spread across six states:

        • Nevada (6 electoral votes)
        • Arizona (11)
        • Wisconsin (10)
        • Michigan (15)
        • Pennsylvania (19)
        • Georgia (16)

        In 2020, all six went Biden by less than 5%. In the 2022 midterm, Republicans gained seats in the house from Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia. If those three switch to Trump, Trump wins with 272. Having a record showing in California or New York does little to help with these strategic areas.

        I’m not too certain what matters to the voters in these six states, but in Arizona, the BoRDEr cRiSis, as you condescendingly noted, probably matters to them. In all six of those states, you’ll need a get out a vote drive to convince people to vibe with Biden. Usually those people are young and have a little more free time. But not when they see a genocide unfolding in Palestine and the Biden administration being complicit. Are the Arab Americans of Deerborn, MI going to come out and vote for Biden and Tlaib again? Will Tlaib stump for Biden? Are young Blacks in Atlanta or Philly going to come out in droves for Biden? I don’t know.

        I don’t know what ground work the DNC has been doing, but I hope they’ve built a trusted network to get people to the polls. Either way, I don’t think the “Republicans are fucked”. It think we are looking at a close election again.

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
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          I’d wager we can simply call vibes the right-wing grip on shallow political talking-points at the national level, for which they’re pretty effective at admittedly. Such is the nature that lies and bullshit are easier to spread than the complexity of truth & reality. So in that respect, sure, there are many people who don’t have the vibe or feel the sentiment that things are going well — not because the data is wrong, but simply because they live in an alternate reality; an echo-chamber. A place where that data just doesn’t exist.

          There is, frankly, little I can think of that we can do to reach these people. On the other hand, I think Donald has already cast a wide net and those who were trump supporters remain trump supporters (minus the dead ones from old boomers dying, covid, etc.). Yeah he’s making sligh tinroads with the likes of certain Hispanic populations — mostly in Florida and Texas, but Nevada is up in the air. The question is whether these inroads outpace the influx of Gen Z and Millennials who overall lean Dem.

          Actually I am referring to 2022 midterms, because as you said – the midterms tend to go to the party not the President’s; and if we compare either 2010 or 2014 to 2022, then Democrats vastly overperformed in 2022, turning what was coined the “red wave,” to at best a red tinkle, or even a blue tinkle depending on what you prioritize. Because of the reversal of Roe, youth showed up and offset what could’ve otherwise been a disastrous midterm during a rough economy. We won key Secretary of State positions, Governorships, and expanded a lead in the Senate. Yes, lost the House, true. Though not by much.

          If Democratic turnout meets 2020 or 2022 levels, which it should, then I think Biden is in a stronger position now than he was in 2020 due to:

          • Having (and thus no longer going against) incumbent advantage.
          • A more united Democratic party (than the brutal 2020 Dem primaries)
          • Reversal of Roe being a massive boost in turnout
          • Being honest here: There’s good reason Republicans fear a Taylor Swift endorsement and voter registration drive.
          • Both covid recovery and the economy are objectively better now than 2022 and overall improved across the course of Biden’s Presidency
          • 91 criminal charges across 4 Grand Jury indictments will do nothing for Trumpers, but it will be a consideration for independents/moderates/swing-voters, and the polling generally agrees: More than half of Independents polled believe Trump is guilty, and 27% don’t know. Hell, even 14% of Republicans think he’s guilty..

          In the absence of major economic issues, I predict the priorities of preserving Democracy, Justice, and Women’s Rights will rise to forefront – especially after campaign spending really kicks off.

          It’s really not that big of an issue. It’s no different than the “mIGRanT CaRaVaN” that Donnie tried to fearmonger with as he pulled National Guard from their Thanksgiving dinners to try to drum up hysteria… Which turned out to be nothing. Hell even of the recent MAGA convoy themselves arrived and are confused..

          So, what exactly is going in favor for Republicans compared to past election cycles…? The age issue remains a constant with both Presidents. I “condescendingly” wrote it that way because it’s patently a manufactured crisis. There are myriad issues that far exceed in this in impact to Americans overall. Yet I admit that the “vibe” right-wing media projects has this “BoRDeR CriSis” sticking even with some Independents and Democrats. Hence why Biden in a stroke of genius called the bluff of Republicans by giving them everything they wanted, and now they stumble to save face and figure out a way to not pass the legislation because Donald Trump told them not to because it’s literally his only attack going into 2024. Thus, Biden just neutered it.

          But not when they see a genocide unfolding in Palestine and the Biden administration being complicit. Are the Arab Americans of Deerborn, MI going to come out and vote for Biden and Tlaib again? Will Tlaib stump for Biden? Are young Blacks in Atlanta or Philly going to come out in droves for Biden? I don’t know.

          These are pretty small groups; the BoTh SiDeS false equivalence fallacy is losing its muster as more and more people are made aware of classic wedge-driving techniques during these election cycles. At the end of the day, Biden has already significantly shifted his tone with Israel, and will these people be foolish enough to think Trump won’t be an order-of-magnitude worse in his revocation of rights and complicity in genocides? (Recall, Trump said he’d block all Palestinian refugees… That really sat well with Muslims last time he tried that, didn’t it?). What about Ukraine? We know Trump sucks up to Putin… Will people opt to not vote or vote for Trump, knowing he’ll leave Ukraine hanging? I don’t think so.

          I’m not going to say this is a slam-dunk, but I absolutely am more confident now than I was in 2020, or 2022.

          • TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world
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            So two things and I’ll let it be.

            First, the migration issue has gained traction among voters in swing states [2]. Our system doesn’t reward the most popular candidste, but the one who can garner the most votes by state.

            Swing states matter. And small, undecided groups in swing states matter most.

            All the data and risk assessment mean very little. Politics are emotional. They are in the pain of today and worries of tomorrow.

            I think your confidence is on shaky ground. And worry that Biden and the Democrats aren’t doing enough of the right things to be seen as better than anything else.

            • lennybird@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Well I think we’ve both said our piece and it’s just a matter of time now before speculation turns history. Perhaps more productively we need to ask how we can increase the odds Biden wins by even more, which I’m not opposed.

      • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Well yeah all those stats look great but the problem is that inflated housing just undoes them.

        China is coincidentally also facing their economic issues from their massively inflated housing market with Evergrande (again?) collapsing

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
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          For sure, completely agree it needs addressed. But like most things, the origin of this housing crisis largely falls on Republicans. Here’s what I’d do if I were Democratic strategists going into this year. Pivots. Lots of pivots.

          • If Republicans push back on Gun Control talk, you go, "okay, if you don’t want to solve that and deflect, then let’s solve root problems like societal stress, education, single-payer healthcare, and guaranteed access to a therapist at any age

          • If republicans push back on the boRDeR cRiSis, (a) point out the net-positive economic impact these hard workers fleeing crime & poverty have while (b) pivoting to the domestic terrorist threat from right-wing extremists home-grown here in the US that are the #1 threat per the DOJ.

          Combined with the border crisis and affordable housing, Democrats need to go, "Why focus on the small fish at the border and not the foreign investors from China, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia who’ve bought up large swaths of land, stifling the American dream? Hell even the King of Jordan owns 2 Beach-front Malibu properties. Look at all the real estate investors and AirBNB jacking up the prices.

          • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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            Democrats aren’t going to fix shit lol they’re just going to bail out the banks again after the economy collapses like Obama did in 2008.

            And then pepper spray the protestors on Wall Street

            • lennybird@lemmy.world
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              … That was a University police officer on UC Davis campus in California and literally had zero to do with Democrats’ direction, lmao. Wtf you smoking this early?

              And don’t care — One side is objectively orders-of-magnitude worse. Progress or damage-control, it makes little difference to me.

              • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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                Them protesting against the direction of Obama bailing out the big banks?

                Seems kinda relevant.

                One side is objectively worse but you don’t have to spread the fairy tale that Democrats are going to ever fix anything. They are just slightly less worse.

                There’s also NYPD cops pepperspraying the protestors if you like that one more but the picture doesn’t look as funny:

                New York City settles Occupy Wall Street pepper spray lawsuit for $50,001

                Protester Kelly Schomburg filed suit after NYPD officer Anthony Bologna pepper-sprayed a group of protesters in 2011, when Schomburg was 18 years old

                • lennybird@lemmy.world
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                  I’m certain the lives of these people would’ve totally improved if the banks and economy completely collapsed, right? As with most things, the direction and anger of these Occupy protests — which I was a part of — had a long list of grievances including “banks got bailed out, we got sold out.” But universally all these problems are squarely of Republican origin; and their solutions are almost all squarely obstructed by Republicans.

                  After all these years, do people forget that Democrats and Obama only had a filibuster-proof control of Congress for literally only months early in his first term? These protests came after the disastrous 2010 midterm election when many of these Occupy Wall Street protesters stayed home and let the Tea Party (pre-MAGA if you’re unfamiliar) take control of Congress with the Freedom Caucus and other bullshit. So that sure did wonders for all the bankers, didn’t it?

                  I’ll say they’re considerably-less worse. Obama sympathized with Occupy Wall street. I wonder what Trump would’ve done… Send in FBI vans like he did in Portland?

          • frezik@midwest.social
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            Most of the housing crisis needs to be solved at the local level. Zone for density, support social housing (where the city builds the houses rather than developers), design walkable neighborhoods, and support public transportation.

            The federal government can play with interest rates, regulate banks, and provide funding for cities to do the above. It certainly affects things, but it’s highly abstracted from the actual work of getting more people into affordable housing.

            • lennybird@lemmy.world
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              I agree zoning is a big one.

              There are some top-down factors that need to be addressed in my view; chief among them is cracking down on rental properties, and foreign investors/ownership.

              Another facet to this is the deterioration of small and rural communities across the country. We have a massive amount of land and yet the population density in certain hot-spots is off the charts. In this respect, I think we need an investment in bridging the rural-city divide. That means promoting work-from home jobs with federal tax incentives, high-speed rail infrastructure akin to the Interstate system that helps link the rural communities to the cities, and high-speed internet for all akin to the investments FDR made for rural communities in bringing electricity to the masses (The REA).

              The ultimate effect of this will be de-congest cities where stress is high, bring people closer to nature, and tap into unused land and foster smaller more tightly-knit communities that aren’t so disconnected from the world.

  • systemguy_64@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    TIL grudgingly is a word. I’ve only ever heard begrudgingly before.

    Apparently grudgingly is done with lack of interest

    Begrudgingly is done with envy

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    This has got to be an Onion headline. I mean, of course it is, but they would never in a million years admit it.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Brace for a lot of the magats claiming that faux is “too woke”/“too liberal” and claim they’ll have to watch ONAN even harder.

    • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      It was extra hilarious when they were complaining about the environmental impact of Taylor Swift’s plane. Like you admit the climate needs help, Fox?

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        Plus, like only her plane. How many millionaires fly in their private jet and they complain about her? Obviously they are teiggered. The bootstrap party sure likes to whine about dumb shit. Imagine if they put even half as much effort into anything productive.

      • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It’s no different from them suddenly caring about the environment when it comes to EVs. “Mining lithium is so bad for the environment!” They post to Facebook from their lithium-battery powered cellphone.

        • Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml
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          Dangerously close to “yet you exist in society… I am very smart.”

          It would be better to just go along with them when they are incidentally correct like that instance, but push towards the logical endpoint of that thought train.

          Agree with them, like, “yeah, mining lithium is fucking horrible, and it is literally impossible currently without coerced labor somewhere in the supply chain. Let’s empower the regulatory bodies in countries where lithium is mined to prevent negative externalities that currently exist only because it is more profitable.”

          Or “yeah it’s fucking ridiculous how much swift uses that jet. Musk too, and Bezos too. These fucks could never ride in a jet the rest of their lives and we could take flights to vacation multiple times a year for the rest of our lives and we still wouldn’t even be responsible for 1% of their emissions output. Let’s ban private jets and make these fucks ride commuter with the rest of us.”

          • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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            Except I don’t think they’re incidentally correct at all. They weren’t worried about lithium at all until it was put into car batteries. Because it was never about the lithium.

  • flathead@lemm.ee
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    Ask not for whom the economy booms -

    For only the bell tolls for thee.

  • gun@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    Great for who? Not me. Not anyone I know. Two of my close friends lost their jobs in the last few months. And tech layoffs out of control due to interest rates. Fuck off with this propaganda

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    There’s still a full on America+China+EU sized market crash boiling under that “booming” surface. I don’t know quite how they staved it off with just Credit Suisse and two other banks imploding so far. But it’s not done, it’s not finished, it hasn’t even started.

    No idea what backroom deals were done in the financial sector to stop it all for now, but it’s still coming. Otherwise corporations wouldn’t still be bleeding the plebs dry with cost of living and trying to offset their shitty investments on the CBMS as well as fighting tooth and nail to keep students indebted forever, so the party can keep on rolling.

    It’s an utter clusterfuck. We’ll see what happens in the next few years.

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      I gotta admit dude, this just smells like made up conspiracies. That Credit Suisse and 2 regional US bank shock happened almost a year ago. If those were emblematic of systemic issues, the failures would have continued, but they were instead just the result of bad governance and decision-making at each individual institution. The world economy absorbed those failures and moved on a long time ago.

      And do you really think businesses need this excuse to raise prices? What about good old fashioned greed? Regarding prices either way, they’ve gone down in almost every sector of the economy besides groceries. High grocery prices definitely hurt the most, though, and I hope Biden can help influence grocers to charge less

      • AlteredStateBlob@kbin.social
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        I don’t think they need excuses, no. But there is a limit to how much you can realistically get out of a stone.

        The world economy has absorbed fuck all, because a lot of, if not all, bad debt is still floating around the markets, hidden in swaps overnight repo, and similar mechanics. I don’t care if you believe me, it’s crazy talk for sure. It doesn’t even matter a single bit if I am right, because there’s fuck all to do about it for most day to day people. I’m also not being alarmist in: OH BUY GOLD NOW, PREP YOUR BUNKERS!!!

        I would much rather be wrong here. Would be fan-fucking-tastic, and if I am, good. That’d be literally the best for everyone.

        All I’m saying is, the underlying issues that keep leading to these market upsets aren’t resolved and CS, et al are just minor break outs of a major issue that keeps bubbling and boiling. Fucked if I knew when it’ll blow, but the next time it does, will be bigger than anything we’ve seen. Just these three banks failing in 2022 was already much larger in value than the entirety of 2008-2009 collapses.

        Again, it doesn’t matter what I think or say. I don’t know if I’m right either, how could I? No one does. I just believe that it’s much more likely that the same fucks that caused 2008, who never saw any consequences whatsoever and are still running the show, never changed their greedy underhanded and horrible ways and 2008 was never resolved either, than all of them having a change of heart and never doing anything shifty or illegal ever again, cross their hearts and hope to die.

        • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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          No offense, but I’m so burnt out of this finance crap, everyone is lying, the whole thing is a pointless big casino. Reading anything about finance anywhere is as reliable as reading TASS (or Ukrainian) reports from the war in Ukraine.

          Nothing ever is a big deal, then everything comes down and a bunch of flapjacks who caused it are laughing and drinking champagne above the sea of desperate people protesting the whole charade.

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            Economics is the one issue where I will actively not trust the experts. When so many of them were saying we were going to have a recession, I was starting to get suspicious. And it turned out, we didn’t have one, even though so many were so sure of it.

            Generally speaking, the experts seem to fall into groupthink and miss the actual trends. I’ve seen forecasters at some of the biggest oil and gas companies make the stupidest calls ever. They apparently forgot that in a cyclical business, we were due for a bust after a boom. It caught them by total surprise.

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            Nothing ever is a big deal, then everything comes down and a bunch of flapjacks who caused it are laughing and drinking champagne above the sea of desperate people protesting the whole charade.

            Are you talking about 2008?

        • AlteredStateBlob@kbin.social
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          No mention of swaps, no mention of debt lending and loaning. Evergrand’s impact doesn’t just come from the shit it does in China with the real estate. As a publicly traded company, there are many financial instruments tied to that single stock that have nothing at all to do with the real estate side of things.

          • protist@mander.xyz
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            9 months ago

            Evergrande stock has been all but worthless for over 2 years now, what shoe do you think is left to drop?

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    9 months ago

    Probably because Fox only makes good revenues when their buffoons aren’t in charge to undermine their narratives with utter incompetence and pure greed.

    Fox needs its viewers to want to start winning, not to be winning. That’s why Tucker publicly put a stop to the Biden “crime family” claims right before the 2020 election, and resumed right after it.

    Their viewership does best when their claims are not falsifiable.

    • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Imagine how much social and technological progress we could have made if half of our country wasn’t dedicated to tearing it all down at every opportunity…

      It’s so fucking exhausting.

      • recapitated@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I think we’ve made enough technological progress for now. Social progress might include a better application of the technologies we’ve had for a long time though.

        • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Social progress would be a better way to raise children without traumatizing and sleep depriving them to become passive laborers serving the owner class.