this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
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Everything is expensive and everyone's underemployed thanks to all the damage large corporations have done to the job market and the economy as a whole.
I just want to make almost as much money as I made as a shift manager in fast food 10 years ago, which is a job I ironically walked away from to get educated. I just hope the democrats win so they can maybe reverse some of that anti homelessness stuff because we're all going to need it.
100%
People are making more money and growing poorer by the month.
People are not growing poorer, they are growing richer
https://www.bls.gov/charts/usual-weekly-earnings/usual-weekly-earnings-over-time-total-men-women.htm
People make more money now than before the pandemic, even inflation adjusted
Inflation adjusted looking pretty flat and that's if you trust their optimistic inflation calculations that likely underestimate it. Housing, education, and health care greatly outpace inflation btw, but hey, at least TVs are cheaper.
Source on inflation being underestimated?
Also if something like housing grows in price faster than inflation, then something else has to grow slower than inflation for the inflation number to be what it is. No matter what category you pick that grew faster than inflation, it doesn't matter to the overall increase in prices by definition
For example, grocery prices have increased slower than inflation. It doesn't actually make my argument any stronger, since it just means other things increased faster
Grocery prices is actually a great example of official inflation numbers being underestimated. My grocery bill has increased by a minimum of 50% (and more like 100%) since the pandemic, but official numbers put it at about 25%. They have a basket of goods that they base their numbers off of, but that basket changes and my suspicion is that they change it in a way to make the numbers look better than they really are. In my case, I've been buying the same stuff all along (i.e. mainly simple non-processed ingredients) with modifications only to try to reduce my bill (e.g. I haven't bought any eggs over $2 a dozen, which means I haven't bought eggs in a long time).
I sarcastically pointed out "at least TVs are cheaper" because yes, there are categories where some things are cheaper, but the far more important categories of housing, education, food, and health care have experienced ridiculous amounts of inflation.
I bought the same things from the same store in 2017 as today. The $5.99 yogurt is now $7.99
There's two different brands, 4 lbs and 5 lbs and they have the same price
Other things went up similarly, like half a gallon of organic milk was $4.99 and now it's $5.99
I did not see a single thing that went up 50%, not one
Don’t come here with your data and upset our dearly held opinions.
https://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm
We measure this. Underemployment is not that high.
Exactly. I really like the term "vibecession" coined by Kyla Scanlon, because it really hits this perfectly. People think things are bad, despite all evidence to the contrary.
From the numbers I've seen, the average household (i.e. making <$70k/year) is maybe paying a few percent more on net than they were 5 years ago. Wages tend to lag inflation, so it makes sense that people's wages would still be catching up now that inflation is pretty much back to normal. It'll probably take another year or two, but it'll get there.