Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Let's refrain from blaming any politician at first. Let's talk about the current state of the economy. The media on both sides have generally pushed the narrative that it's booming in recent years. However, is that really the case? First and foremost, the only thing that has really boomed since the beginning of 2017 is the stock market. Everything else has continued humming along as it has since at least early in Obama's second term. We have nearly full unemplyoment but it doesn't feel like it. Wages are not rising like they should if the unemployment rate really was as low as the official number. This isn't a '90s economy. This is an '06 economy. It also doesn't feel like a 3% GDP economy. It feels more like 1-2%. I would say this economy is not bad per say but it's not as rosy as some would have you believe. I also think recession is coming sooner than people want to admit as well.
Wages haven't risen because our service based economy is low skill. No wage pressure as the majority of workers are replaceable. Corporations can do more with less and this tend will continue to erode worker's ability to see wages rise in most of America.
Unemployment really is low.
Manufacturing is never returning and people need to realize the other 6b people on the planet are going to start driving demand. Which naturally makes Asia s huge target over the next few decades.
Many make the mistaken argument that this is about wages, it isn't. Wages are a very tiny part of the equation.
We are seeing our influence wane and if we aren't careful we'll collapse under our own debt and stupidity.
We are approaching the end of the rally though and the downturn is going to be harsh.
The stock market is booming, but wages are stagnant. Feels like 2005 to me. I was selling real estate at the time, and the real estate business was booming due to lack of restrictions on the banks and their creative mortgaging. In 2006 the "boom" started into a nose dive. You don't have to recount 2008 for anyone here who lived through it and had their 401Ks decimated by the bust. It was Reaganomics taken to its logical conclusion, with redistribution of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the top.
Yep. We're there, again, at the hands of the GOP, again, watching the bubble get larger. A select few will make a killing when it bursts, and the rest of America will be killed. This time we many get our Great Depression Redux that W tried so hard to give us. When real estate prices drop through the floor, Trump and his cronies will buy it for pennies on the dollar. The "economy" is being manipulated by the 1% and their lapdog president and Congress.
The stock market is booming, but wages are stagnant. Feels like 2005 to me. I was selling real estate at the time, and the real estate business was booming due to lack of restrictions on the banks and their creative mortgaging. In 2006 the "boom" started into a nose dive. You don't have to recount 2008 for anyone here who lived through it and had their 401Ks decimated by the bust.
Yep. We're there, again, at the hands of the GOP, again. A select few will make a killing, and the rest of America will be killed. This time we many get our Great Depression Redux that W tried so hard to give us. When real estate prices drop through the floor, Trump and his cronies will buy it for pennies on the dollar. The "economy" is being manipulated by the 1% and their lapdog president and Congress.
This same thing was happening under Obama. That those like yourself simply refuse to admit it is why we can not enact real change.
You only needed to add one letter to make your post legit.
OP, I agree with you. I also hope that this doesn't become an Obama vs. Trump discussion.
I haven't felt like the economy has been right since the housing bust (noted above) and the 2008 nosedive of the stock market and the total job stagnation that happened at that point. Any of us who had kids graduating from college at that point know what a nightmare that was for entrance into the job market. It's the reason we know have the "26 year old rule" on the health insurance legislation. Young adults were aging out of their parents policies and could not find jobs that offered any health insurance or finding jobs at all. By the time my daughter graduated in 2013, things were quite a bit better but still very tough. I also live in an area with a pretty healthy economy and robust job market and it was tough. In my industry wages had been totally stagnated, even in fact going down. There was absolutely no reason for it my industry because it is the big defense contractors making hand of fist in profits for military weaponry.
You could say that wages, across the country in every industry, reset themselves much lower. In the meantime, healthcare goes up, product prices go up. That's natural with inflation but wages should match to some degree if companies are now making so much profit. Couple the wage stagnation with inflation and the financial quality of life for the middle class and lower has taken a HUGE hit. I think most everyone can feel that despite the "great numbers" out there.
OP, I agree with you. I also hope that this doesn't become an Obama vs. Trump discussion.
I haven't felt like the economy has been right since the housing bust (noted above) and the 2008 nosedive of the stock market and the total job stagnation that happened at that point. Any of us who had kids graduating from college at that point know what a nightmare that was for entrance into the job market. It's the reason we know have the "26 year old rule" on the health insurance legislation. Young adults were aging out of their parents policies and could not find jobs that offered any health insurance or finding jobs at all. By the time my daughter graduated in 2013, things were quite a bit better but still very tough. I also live in an area with a pretty healthy economy and robust job market and it was tough. In my industry wages had been totally stagnated, even in fact going down. There was absolutely no reason for it my industry because it is the big defense contractors making hand of fist in profits for military weaponry.
You could say that wages, across the country in every industry, reset themselves much lower. In the meantime, healthcare goes up, product prices go up. That's natural with inflation but wages should match to some degree if companies are now making so much profit. Couple the wage stagnation with inflation and the financial quality of life for the middle class and lower has taken a HUGE hit. I think most everyone can feel that despite the "great numbers" out there.
It wasn't right long before that. You had people investing millions into tech companies 20 years ago that were producing nothing and really didn't even have a valid business model to justify such investments.
Consumers confidence rebounded slightly in April with a small gain that put the index back near an 18-year high, suggesting the U.S. economy remains on sound footing despite fresh worries about trade tensions.
The U.S. consumer confidence index (CCI) is an indicator designed to measure consumer confidence, which is defined as the degree of optimism on the state of the economy that consumers are expressing through their activities of savings and spending.
In other words its a measurement of real people and what they are doing with their money.
It doesn't separate the political losers from the political winners. Elections do that.
OP, I agree with you. I also hope that this doesn't become an Obama vs. Trump discussion.
I haven't felt like the economy has been right since the housing bust (noted above) and the 2008 nosedive of the stock market and the total job stagnation that happened at that point. Any of us who had kids graduating from college at that point know what a nightmare that was for entrance into the job market. It's the reason we know have the "26 year old rule" on the health insurance legislation. Young adults were aging out of their parents policies and could not find jobs that offered any health insurance or finding jobs at all. By the time my daughter graduated in 2013, things were quite a bit better but still very tough. I also live in an area with a pretty healthy economy and robust job market and it was tough. In my industry wages had been totally stagnated, even in fact going down. There was absolutely no reason for it my industry because it is the big defense contractors making hand of fist in profits for military weaponry.
You could say that wages, across the country in every industry, reset themselves much lower. In the meantime, healthcare goes up, product prices go up. That's natural with inflation but wages should match to some degree if companies are now making so much profit. Couple the wage stagnation with inflation and the financial quality of life for the middle class and lower has taken a HUGE hit. I think most everyone can feel that despite the "great numbers" out there.
The only real number which is important is inflation adjusted median hourly wages. Its been flat for decades. Thats the real story. Not GDP, not stock market, not even unemployment figures, as people often forget that fewer working age people can work and the unemployment can still go down as long as people simply drop out of the labor market. Another thing people forget is that rent is not included in inflation statistics. So rent could skyrocket and inflation could be recorded as 0%. The corporate mainstream media deliberately pull the wool over people's eyes by not informing people like they should.
The only real number which is important is inflation adjusted median hourly wages. Its been flat for decades. Thats the real story. Not GDP, not stock market, not even unemployment figures, as people often forget that fewer working age people can work and the unemployment can still go down as long as people simply drop out of the labor market. Another thing people forget is that rent is not included in inflation statistics. So rent could skyrocket and inflation could be recorded as 0%. The corporate mainstream media deliberately pull the wool over people's eyes by not informing people like they should.
This is a thread about feelings, not a real number or any real importance on the whole of the economy. Its an attempt to down play a good economy for political purpose based on feelings.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
