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this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
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politics
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But the economy is doing great! Billionaires and corporations are making record profits while eliminating thousands and thousands of jobs!
The DOW is a misery index. A measure of how much wealth can be extracted from the working class and reappropriated to the wealthy.
What does DOW stand for?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average
OK, so the D stands for Dow Jones ... what do the O and W stand for?
It's not an acronym
Then why did @disheveledWallaby write it as one?
Because it's a very common misunderstanding to write it like that. It is more properly either "the Dow" or "the DJIA" but tickers are generally where "the Dow" is seen and those are often all caps.
Yeah, that was my bad, sorry for the confusion. I can be smart and dumb in the same sentence!
To give you something other than the issue at hand to fixate on?
Ya but they fired one full time worker and replaced them with three part time workers! Progress!
All hail the job creators!
I'm confused. Wages are growing faster than inflation now. Unemployment is back down. Every metric for WORKERS (not stocks, markets, etc.) is on the up.
Do you have evidence I can read about this part time phenomena?
While I know things are generally bleak from a general late-stage capitalism point of view, and things cant be all good for everyone, but things are looking good or better, at least for most people. What benefit is there in denying this? It's the same FUD the media is spreading, I feel.
Specific inflation, like rent and food, are not down and not being beat by wages. Also the official inflation numbers don't include food.
Furthermore, there's decades of slippage to make up for, just in the official numbers. There is a 139 percent gap since 1974. (The first year for which numbers are easily accessible) That means that the inflation added up every year beats median wage change added every year by 139 points.
A couple months of beating core inflation isn't going to solve something that's been problematic since the mid 2000's.
Good points! Isn't decreasing runaway inflation still a boon? Also, what metric for inflation are you using? I thought the CPI included average essentials a person would buy, like food. It seems that measure is also decreasing:
https://www.bls.gov/charts/consumer-price-index/consumer-price-index-by-category.htm
How does one beat core inflation, though? Deflationary and austerity measures typically end poorly, right? I guess companies would have to pay up so that productivity gains match real wage gains.
Well yeah. That's the basic problem. If we still prioritize corporate gains, we will never get people back on on track.
That's all great in a vacuum, but when you add in housing costs suddenly none of those gains are enough.
Totally! In the context of Biden's economic policies, generally, I think it reflects favorably for him.
I would like to see corporations banned from purchasing single family homes, massive rent control measures, etc. But these aren't things I can expect Biden to achieve unilaterally or quickly.
Biden doesn't even acknowledge the current issues with the way our economy is structured as evident by this article.
They really only included a quick blurb. What about Biden's other efforts?
and
source
I am not hyper up-to-date on everything political these days, but it seems like Biden is doing alright. Especially when I consider the alternative 🥲
They need to shout about these efforts more. And I'd like to see actionable results and not just endless studies. The Democrats have always been terrible at messaging. Probably because all the media is corporate owned.
You can't take credit for things that haven't happened.
But you can discredit somebody for bad things they're planning to do (looking at a certain insurrectionist)
There are more 25 million kids coming of age in the following decade. 500,000 doesn't even scratch the surface of housing needs, it's doing something sure but I am not going to praise the man for doing below the bare minimum.
You're once again looking at this in a vacuum.
This is as bad as the GOP talking about "access" to healthcare in the US. They're going to subsidize the construction of the worst kind of housing to solve a housing crisis and half of them are going to be bought by investment companies.
We need market rate mid rises administrated by a non profit organization.
wdym? The GOP does their best to limit access to healthcare. My only point is that Biden isn't sitting around doing nothing ignoring the problems that most Americans face. Does not mean that he is beyond reproach or criticism.
I agree that corporations need to be stopped from buying up all the homes, but this is only one initiative and it includes price controls and other great things for low income families. More needs to be done, but I cant complain about progress.
edit: Also non-profits are not a panacea to any problems. The government is the only entity with the power to accomplish what we need
And yet Republicans will tell you straight to your face that they improved healthcare access. That's the parallel. The point.
I think the difference to me is that Democrats/Joe Biden are passing real legislation that will go into effect and do something hopefully, whereas Republicans have dismantled protections for women, etc. Definitely important not to count the chickens before they hatch though!
Yeah, but people on discussion forums have a generally higher exposure to political stuff. Most voters aren't even aware there was another wave of loan forgiveness, that they lowered the cost of hearing aids, put a large amount of money towards Superfund cleanup, or set new regulations around HFCs and methane.
They just want to put food on the table for their family in return for working 40 hours a week in the most automated economy ever.
Public sentiment is a trailing indicator of economic success. Until the gains are really felt by people they don't see them. In a couple months that wage growth and lower inflation will even out.
Quite a few states are increasing their minimum wage in 2024, and federal workers are getting a 5% raise. I imagine the "but why aren't people happy about the economy" stuff will fade away in a quarter or two.
Hey if that happens, then great. But it's one hell of a bet to make in an election year. Especially when people have been struggling for a decade now.