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It depends on where on the ladder you are. If you are in the top 10% you would be doing great. However for the rest of Americans it is far from great. First all the good manufacturing jobs that the working folks occupied have dried up, but have been replaced by a larger number of service jobs. That sounds ok on the surface for most of the factory jobs packed a heap of benefits while the service jobs give little to nothing. Walmart, has proudly given raises across the board, but in most cases have limited the hours to 28hr stopping the employee from collecting any benefits like healthcare insurance. Not to worry these employees all over the country who are working for bottom wages and no health care insurance are covered by Medicaid and that's paid for by our taxes. Along with massive farm loss payouts, the gifts to the corporations and wealthy, we will be seeing a steady increase in our taxes.
The American economy is now supported by the largest credit debt in history. Student loan debt is staggering. The housing market has all but shut out the first time buyer. Collapse is right around the corner. I am sure there are many here who believe Trump is a great businessman. Nothing could be further from the truth. TRUMP IS THE ALL TIME BIGGEST BUSINESS LOSER IN HISTORY.
The only money Trump ever made was from swindle, fraud, and bankruptcy.
Well it's good right now from the perspective that more people are employed. It's not so good from the point of being able to afford what was once more readily available to the middle class -- health care, a college career, a house. But we're living in a global economy now, which is holding down wage growth and keeping the economy going.
For various reasons I've got a feeling that the next recession could be a deep one. Enjoy the moment while it lasts.
I have to agree but would add that an exploding deficit is a grave concern.
Firstly, it always depends on your measuring stick.
If we use something like "what if the balanced budget in the last year of Clintons POTUS had stayed that way and we paid down the debt and didn't have the Great Recession and endless wars?"....
Wow, compared to that we are in terrible shape! Horrible....not even close. Many Trillions behind the either ball.
If we use "climbing out of the worst Recession in history AND still spending vastly more than we take it"...then it's just a regular "bad".
If we use "I got mine, who cares about the country and deficit and stuff?" - then for many of us things are OK and will continue to be so.
I tend to take the longer view so the first item I mentioned is closer to my world view - that is, we are two decades behind where we should be...as well as many trillions of dollars. On an individual basis, that represents a lot of suffering, but not of the top 10 or 20%. The forgotten Man is not highly represented here on CD.
As Dad says, take a person and apply the thumbscrews...tighten them more and more. After a while, loosen them a couple turns and the person will think they are feeling pleasure. That is where our economy is at.
It is good enough so that Trump will be reelected.
GDP growth is less than when Daddy Bush was thrown out.....so I wouldn't say any single indicator was at work. Also, Daddy Bush had won a BIG war without any loses (to speak of) and was associated with the hero Ronald Reagan. Neither had the negatives associated with Trump (personality, etc.).
Daddy Bush was at 70% approval rating at this many days in - compared to 42% for Trump.
I think things are more complex than you are letting on.
My retirement fund is growing by leaps and bounds. No complaints here.
Leaps and Bounds? Compared to post-Great Recession or compared to 20 years ago?
Leaps and Bounds sounds like Buffet style....like 18% per year compounded average over decades.
"Normal" might be 10%, which would mean your investment of 100K 20 years ago would be 650K today.
Buffet "Leaps" would be 2.7 MILLION in 20 years from that 100K.
Anything below that 10% is "fair to good"...maybe down to 7% (you'd have 400K in 20 years from 100).....below that is "poor or long term average".
7% is the 100+ year average of S&P, DOW, etc.....close enough anyway.
Sometimes I think I should sell everything since I have averaged a couple points higher and yet I know that Mr. Market never allows that over the long run!
Allowing for inflation, even the normal 7% means only a gain of 4-5% per year...nothing that is going to make us all wealthy unless we keep working hard and adding to the nut. Probably as it should be...."We make money the old-fashioned way - WORK FOR IT". That's my slogan.
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