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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
Daily reminder that "higher GDP is good for the economy" is now a wildly disproven myth from the days before economics was a science, by a guy who said we'd get a 15 hour work week.
Monetary inflation is bad. The nitwits who jump in saying "ackchually velocity" are suckers who paid to learn the lie, whose jobs may depend on the lie, and would be very embarrassed to be wrong. Bailouts weren't the exception - they're the rule.
We've been robbed by the 0.1% and don't need to take it anymore.
Adding to this: GDP only measures the amount of money spent on stuff, not the actual value of the things. That's one of the reasons that makes economists think untouched nature is bad, it doesn't contribute to the GDP
Two economists are walking in the woods when they see a pile of bear shit.
One says to the other "I'll pay you $500 to pick up that shit."
The other agrees, but immediately regrets it. He says he'll pay the other $500 to take it from him. The other agrees.
The first thinks for a moment and says to the second "I think we're both worse off than before we started this walk."
The second, hands full of bear shit, is shocked and yells "What do you mean, we just increased the GDP by $1000!"
The SP500 hitting highs is a lot less good news when you realize most of that is simply due to the dollar devaluing against other international currencies.
That isn't asset appreciation, it's currency devaluation.
EDIT:
I m on mobile and don't have the ability to make my own chart with DXY and SP500 normalized to each other, but uh...
https://portfolioslab.com/tools/stock-comparison/%5EDXY/SPY
Look at this in YTD, then in 1Y, then 5Y.
Normally, these two things move in the same dirrction, though the SP500 tends to grow much more when the DXY grows a little.
Well, now, basicslly since Trump took office, they're moving in the opposite direction.
So, yeah, this is now what is called a 'melt up', where stocks climb higher, but not because of any kind of underlying fundamental strength of the US economy but because the USD has lost about 10% of its value compared to the currencies it most often is traded against.
When the nixon administration abandoned the gold standard, stock prices rose, too. It's the same mechanism: avoid having cash as the currency devalues.
Is it atypical to learn this in school?
In American schools?
Normal public schools?
Economics is an elective, only available at fairly good schools, usually only taken by overachievers.
Most US Public schools don't even teach the basics of taxes or finances as it applies to an average person who is going to like, work a job that is taxed, buy a car with a loan.
Our education system has been intentionally destroyed by Republican s for decades, the result is that roughly within +/- 2 years of when I graduated college... US average adult literacy rate has been plummeting.
The average US adult now reads at a 6th grade level, average math skills are also terrible.
Uneducated people are easier to lie to and trick.
The average US adult now reads at a 6th grade level
Read this statistic recently, and while not surprising, it is shocking. I remember when I was young, the average was an 8th grade reading level. And I thought that was terrible.
I had an 8th grade reading level in the 4th grade for crying out loud, meaning the average American reads at a lower level than I could in elementary school.
What does nth grade reading level even mean? Why doesn't it get corrected to an average of what is actual? In the context of adults I can understand, but I think I've heard things like Xrh graders having an average reading level as Yth graders. But if the average reading level of Xth grades is something (like some amount of words), why isn't that what an Xth grade reading level is?
I hope that makes sense. Like if you everyone how their school experience is and they all believe they had a "worse than average" experience, clearly about half are incorrect.
What does nth grade reading level even mean?
Very broadly, a lower grade of reading level means:
Less broad vocabularly,
Less ability to use and comprehend more complex grammar and sentence structure,
Less critical analysis capability,
Less ability to understand context and domain specific, different meanings of words,
More reliance on nebulouy defined, vague slang vocabulary.
In the context of adults I can understand, but I think I've heard things like Xrh graders having an average reading level as Yth graders.
This means that say, a typical 8th grader now has reading/writing abilities on par with a 6th grader.
In other words, kids keep failing classes and getting passed onto the next grade anyway, instead of being held back, or sent into some kind of 'catch-up' or 'remedial' classes to get them up to standard.
...
Teachers and the education system broadly have, you know, rubrics, standards, lists of concepts that a kid is supposed to be taught in each class and grade.
This is how 'grading' works, the idea is that your test is supposed to evaluate how successful the student was at learning, how succesful the course was at actually teaching the student new concepts.
The main problem is that we underfund teachers and schools, and also punish teachers and schools when they actually do the right thing and refuse to pretend a kid has learned things they haven't.
So, the result is, kids don't learn.
...
Semi-relevant rant about smart phones in the class room
Another recent contributor to this is just pandemic levels of kids on their phones in class, all the time, not paying attention.
What you should do is something like ok, if I see your phone in class once, it gets taken away for the rest of the class, two times, the rest of the day, 3 times, you have to surrender your phone to the office when you get to school and get it back when school is over.
But students and parents literally respond like feral zombies when you propose this, despite this being the norm throughout the proliferation of cellphones, and early days of smartphones.
There's nothing stopping you from using a phone responsibly. Set it on vibrate, if you get an actual important txt or call, ask to step outside the class and take the call/message.
Schools also have landline phones for emergencies.
Another thing is that short form video content addiction does actually cause brainrot, it is real, its been shown in numerous academic studies.
Lower attention spans, lower impulse control, less control over emotions, and shortform video content platforms in particular also spread misinfo and disinfo like wildfire.
Canadian here, what's "AfterPay"? and PLEASE don't tell me it's like layaway or a payday loan or something.
That's exactly what it is.
Yeah, basically a payday loan you can do from your phone. I'm sure this won't crash the economy.
Okay.
It's an app. Can't tell you any more than that.
Oh it trickles down. Just not money, but at least it's warm and golden 🙏
Unironically, it used to be called "Horse and Sparrow Economics," with the rich eating grains, and the poors pecking their meals from the horseshit.
True story
"Thank you my liege"
it never trickles down.
Username checks out.
I'm not quite at the bottom but I can see it from here.
That's by design, the money flows from the average American to the companies. Then slowly trickles into the pockets of the ceo's.
By "trickle down", they meant "pissing in your mouth, peasants", FYI.
No, that's disgusting.
Trickle-down is a perfectly wholesome synonym for horse-and-sparrow economics, so named because sparrows pick undigested oats out of horseshit. Why'd you have to go and make it gross?
Legit rules of the trickle
Where’d this stat come from. Looking around and another site says 25% made payments for groceries. Another site says 60% split payments when buying - not just for groceries. So I sincerely doubt the stat of 60% making payments just for groceries.
This comment on the post indicates that it's a CitizenWatch article, but that article's own listed sources don't support the 60% number either (as I call out in my response to that comment).
I swear there's barely anywhere online anymore where people practice basic skepticism. If it aligns with their existing biases they just slurp it up, no matter how absurd.
Yeah, that statistic is obviously bullshit and people here should notice. They really should notice
Oh, I feel something trickling down alright.
Sadly, Americans are groomed at a young age to dive deep into debt early in life. It has become normalized for most of the population to carry some form of debt (credit cards and student loans are popular choices).
Most people don't even bother making a budget — a task that only needs to be done once a month, and is easier now than ever, thanks to technology.
Try and make a budget for minimum wage. Many people can't afford to live even meagerly.
Why bother budgeting if you're just going to lose anyway?
I have, I mean you kinda HAVE to budget what little you bring in to ensure you don't end up on the streets. and it's not even about saving. saving was just a pipe dream. budgeting was just to ensure rent got paid, bills were paid, and I was able to eat sometimes.
I know people who make 6 figures and can't/won't budget and most live paycheque to paycheque or are absolutely broke just before their next direct deposit. I worked with a guy that made 6 figures and all the time just before payday he'd bum me for cigarettes or ask if I could buy him a coffee or a sandwich cause he had NOTHING. And this was a guy that would always have the latest tech shit, videogames on day one of release - like all of them, nice clothes, etc. just spend, spend, spend.
I've known more people who SHOULD be well off that don't budget and are constantly broke than people who make minimum wage and are surviving.
Budget? You pay what bills are most important now, and just buy the cheapest food possible. That's all there is to it :/
this is it pretty much. personal responsibility when it comes to this line of discourse is mostly just a myth. people are often not really responsible for the majority of their own live’s outcomes, let alone those most disadvantaged. people get deeply offended at the idea they’re not, in reality, some superman personally championing every single successful thing they’re in the vicinity of.
i wish this culture would go away of blaming everyone individually for problems that are almost entirely systemic.
it seems really obvious when you think about it even just a little bit that your future is mostly written by those around you, not yourself. you have a certain freedom of metered and realistic choice, but no freedom of will. couldn’t just will yourself out of a bad situation or to fly, it takes more pieces than that.
Self fulfilling profecy
Most people don’t even bother making a budget — a task that only needs to be done once a month, and is easier now than ever, thanks to technology.
Avoidable debt and spending beyond means are one thing, but budgeting only helps so much when the cost of essential goods has skyrocketed, rent is out of control, and pay is all but stagnant. I applaud the sound financial advice of making a simple personal budget, but the problem is (for most people) far, far greater than credit card debt at the stage people are BNPL groceries...
It's trickle up. You can see the cone in section 2. Increase h and the trickle trickles.
Weird stat aside, I was watching a podcast with Scott Galloway yesterday and he made a comment about Jerome Powell bringing inflation down to 2% without triggering a recession, and I had to facepalm. The rich, even those with a shred of empathy, are massively out of touch with what the 99% are experiencing right now.
Me, off in the corner believing debt is immoral
Society legitimately cannot function without debt. I agree giving people predatory "micro loans" for groceries is dystopian but every society that has discovered agriculture has also discovered the concept of debt because it's a natural consequence of an economic order so tied to seasonal cycles. Interest is also not bad, and every society that has developed debt has also quickly developed interest. Societies that have religious prohibitions or taboos against interest find workarounds because it's proven to be a critical part of how economics works. Personally I am glad that I was able to buy a house for hundreds of thousands of dollars I don't have yet because I will be able to pay off that in time and I appreciate that the bank is willing to lend me that money for such a long time at a relatively low rate of return for them. The Soviet Union even had banks that offered loans with interest but they were run by the State. It's kind of unavoidable.