The great American boom is finally running out of steam, leaving mountains of debt
www.telegraph.co.uk
High borrowing and low personal savings are dashing hopes of an economic soft landing
  • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    72·
    6 months ago

    All of this talk is already 1 or even 2 years obsolete. While people were arguing about soft vs hard landing shit the stock market rallied to all time highs, they created an entirely new AI/Tech bubble and everything now hinges on whether or not that bubble will crash.

    Bad data about the real economy, if and when it comes at all will be completely irrelevant to the mainstream economic analysis going forward.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      69·
      6 months ago

      I find it challenging to envision how the tech bubble could sustain the economy. Essential needs must be met, and people must be able to afford basic necessities such as housing and food. The US economy is moving towards a state where these necessities are no longer accessible for the majority of individuals. As Lenin once noted, every society is three meals away from chaos.

      • HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        57·
        6 months ago

        We just subtly redefined the economy. It no longer involves provision of essential goods and services to actual people. It’s all a scoreboard of stock prices and interest rates.

        Cults never change: we’re all going to transcend and become beings of pure energy Nevada Limited Liability Corporations that no longer need food or housing because we can subsist on Lord Kalutika’s Golden Light eternal 9% annualized paper growth.

        • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
          59·
          6 months ago

          This is why GDP is such an irrelevant measure. In the US it includes financialization. Rents are included as “product.” Insurance is “product.” Tech industry vaporware investment is “product.” They define things that most definitely are not being produced as “product” and say look how much we produce the economy is great! It’s just made up

          • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
            52·
            6 months ago

            It’s even worse than that because a lot of the GDP comes from the industries that are actively harmful to society. Private health insurance is a perfect example, it’s an industry that profits of basic needs of the people, and it’s making the working majority poorer and less healthy. Yet, it bolsters the GDP on paper.

        • FourteenEyes [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
          22·
          6 months ago

          There’s lots of work being done so people are being paid, it’s just that this work is not productive so the money generated by other actually productive sectors of the economy is essentially being put in a big pile and lit on fire

  • FourteenEyes [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    58·
    6 months ago

    I inherited 20,000 bucks a year ago and it’s pretty much all gone down, between car payments and medical expenses and two vacations and a dental emergency and food and gas going up. Reading this makes me feel not as bad, but I also didn’t have to pay rent and could easily have spent less by budgeting better and such… I did spend a fair amount on weed but funnily enough that’s like the one thing that has stayed stable in price.

  • invo_rt [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    47·
    6 months ago

    I haven’t gotten a raise in two years (despite getting a promotion) and my rent has gone up 70% in the past 4 years. I’ve been effectively priced out of ever owning a home where I live. All this to say my partner’s chud dad is old and my partner has to manage some of his finances occasionally. Just one of his accounts made $500K so far this year. Our only chance at owning a home is to bank on a generational wealth transfer that could take a decade or more. It’s a fucking joke.

      • umbrella@lemmy.mlEnglish
        20·
        6 months ago

        expected coming from the country that kicks out 18yr olds from home like sacks of shit and insist on driving huge suvs to the detriment of their kids

      • Yiazmat@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
        17·
        6 months ago

        this was always so weird to me. My parents at least have an excuse that they’re as broke as I am so I don’t expect it from them lol but I have a friend whose parents are retired and have like, literally millions spread across different accounts and they refuse to help him out with anything. it’s not like they have a bad relationship either, it’s just a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps, kiddo” kinda thing.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      57·
      6 months ago

      astronaut-1

      personally I don’t hink there was ever any recovery after the 07-08 collapse and the feds have been at best shuffling numbers around to make it look like things aren’t going to hell

      Over on facebook I’m being served lots of discussions about why Furiosa is doing poorly in the box office “It’s because racist antisemite grandpa isn’t in it!” “It’s because woke!” “It’s because people are sick of girl power!” but in between the mewling chuds is a simple, common thread; Folks can’t afford to go to the movies.

      • BurgerPunk [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        37·
        6 months ago

        personally I don’t hink there was ever any recovery after the 07-08 collapse

        Folks can’t afford to go to the movies.

        YES! Just really glad to see someone say these things. They’re my first thought whenever i see anything articles about the “economy” or why movies (that they spend 2x to 3x more money making) aren’t making enough money.

        fidel-salute

        • invo_rt [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
          18·
          6 months ago

          Which is wild because 75% of the top 50 of the highest grossing films of all time came out in the last decade. It’s almost like the current ultra budget movie production cycle is unsustainable.

          • BobDole [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
            5·
            6 months ago

            That’s more to do with ticket prices than ticket sales, IMO. Number of tickets may be up, but not as a function of population increase and globalization

      • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        30·
        6 months ago

        The 08 crisis truly never went away. You can’t just wipe out that much equity accumulated over decades and expect it to bounce back by 2019 enough for you to say “this is all covid’s fault now.” It has had ups and downs but the overall trend since the subprime collapse has been decline.

      • ihaveibs [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        29·
        6 months ago

        I totally agree. Even the more privileged folks in my sphere are avoiding going out, a complete failure of the bourgeoisie to uphold the social contract of what they call “the middle class.” It’ll be interesting how that continues to evolve

      • barrbaric [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        15·
        6 months ago

        You’re generally correct, but to be fair I think “going to the movies” is also dying because theatres suck and you can just watch everything at home like a week later.

          • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
            6·
            6 months ago

            Yeah. Theatres can be baller, but once the prices went from a few dollars when a few dollars was a lot of money, and society started fragmenting, spending a couple of bucks to do something fun with your friends in the evening the value proposition charged drastically.

      • MayoPete [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        4·
        6 months ago

        It costs way too much money to go to the movies! For two people, with small popcorn and a small drink (20oz soda or bottle of water) came out to $60… it’s not worth it at all

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
          20·
          6 months ago

          Seems like they made an art of kicking the can down the road. Hard to say how long they can keep this going, but the longer it goes the harder the crash will be.