Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Is America in Recession?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 42 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?

#31

Post by jfreds »

bruce511 wrote: post #26
what wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People with solid jobs and money in the bank don’t generally have zero credit scores.

It'll vary by location, but typically credit scores are a measure of -credit- management, not -money- management. So people who are good at managing money, who tend to avoid credit, don't get a chance to demonstrate good -credit- management and hence end up with a low score. This is one reason why getting a credit card, using it, and then paying it off in full every month is a valuable thing to do. So for all the goo…

Maybe it goes without saying, but if you aren’t good at managing -credit-, you aren’t good at managing -money-, period.

All your savings will evaporate when you can’t get a good mortgage rate. That’s not good money management

Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?

#32

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #15
nrhrjrjrjtntbt wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the average number of full time jobs a single person needs to do to survive? or a couple? or a couple with kids?

Four incomes is the number of full-time jobs paying typical (most obtainable) wages. Presumably that would be 4 people. In my market: In mid 1990s one person could afford basic bills on typical, full-time wages. By 2007 living costs had doubled, most due to housing increases. For the next 12 years, wages and living costs mostly kept parity until 2020. During 2020, basic bills (mostly housing) rose and a typical wage-…

The median wage earner in the US working one job is not homeless. Most homes are do not have three jobs between two adults.

Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?

#33

Post by bhag2066 »

digital_sawzall wrote: post #30
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1968 was most awesome for white males. My mom managed to keep the family afloat on one income but she was working a higher-income job (w/ wages somewhat lower than the men below her). Winters could be tougher; we ate what we grew during the summer and didn't always have money for furnace fuel.

1968 was about 10 years after my grandparents migrated from Mexico to work at textile factories in the USA. They managed to buy a new house in a master planned community that was filled by other factory workers like themselves. He could never be mistaken for a white male, still he took english classes at night and started a side business as an umpire for baseball games and my grandmother started selling gold to the o…

I'd love to hear from someone who denies this situation who is under the age of 35 and hear their arguments.

Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?

#34

Post by farseer »

GDP is growing so its not a recession by the traditional definition. But the number of well paying jobs is not increasing overall. You can still become a bartender or a contract/gig worker, those are still in demand.

Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?

#36

Post by al_borland »

ksaj wrote: post #10
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #3

America is in a 4 income economy - the number of typical incomes needed to reliably meet basic bills (rent,transpo,food,utils) in most markets. I've lived thru 8 recessions, none had achieved this level of difficulty. None had so completely barred new entrants to society.

Most people now forget that 50+ years ago, the husband was the sole bread winner, kept his job for most of his life, and could afford the house, car, 4 children and a few pets. I read somewhere that when women started working in the war efforts, businesses took advantage and skewed home prices and whatnot to make it so women had no choice but to continue working. This worked out well, because women wanted to work and…

> Most people now forget that 50+ years ago, the husband was the sole bread winner, kept his job for most of his life, and could afford the house, car, 4 children and a few pets.

When people say things like this, they gloss over the fact that the standard of living, of what most people find acceptable, has gone up dramatically. Average home size has more than doubled, while family size has gone down. Cars have significantly more technology in them. Everyone now needs a $1k smart phone in their pocket.

I live in a home from the 1940s. I’m sure at some point there was a family of 5 living here. My dad grew up in a similar home in the 1950s with 6 people in the home. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone these days who think my house is big enough for a family that size.

My parents both have some emotional scars I’ve seen from growing up poor in the idyllic era everyone likes to reference.

I think debt has really allowed things to get out of hand. The availability and normalization of using debt for everything has meant companies don’t have to keep prices affordable or pay decent wages, they just need to convince the public that having excessive amounts of personal debt is ok and normal. Then they also create new forms of debt to hide it from people and keep them spending, like BNPL. The idea of living within one’s means has shifted to mean if a person can make the monthly payments.

Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?

#37

Post by paulcole »

bluecheese452 wrote: post #29
paulcole wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maximum earning power for anyone (minimum wage) was the answer. I think you meant to say “my answer” not “the answer.”

Why would you think that?

Because there is no single answer here.

Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?

#38

Post by mcdonje »

kasey_junk wrote: post #13
ksaj wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people now forget that 50+ years ago, the husband was the sole bread winner, kept his job for most of his life, and could afford the house, car, 4 children and a few pets. I read somewhere that when women started working in the war efforts, businesses took advantage and skewed home prices and whatnot to make it so women had no choice but to continue working. This worked out well, because women wanted to work and…

“ the husband was the sole bread winner, kept his job for most of his life, and could afford the house, car, 4 children and a few pets.” We don’t _forget_ this. We refute it. It’s not true. It’s a dream that real estate developers _sold_ that wasn’t real. In 1975 the women’s labor participation rate stood right around 50% its around 55% now [0]. In 1975 the US home ownership rate was 65%, its 65% now [1]. There were…

Only going back to the 70s shows a lack of historical awareness.

Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?

#40

Post by Spooky23 »

al_borland wrote: post #36
ksaj wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people now forget that 50+ years ago, the husband was the sole bread winner, kept his job for most of his life, and could afford the house, car, 4 children and a few pets. I read somewhere that when women started working in the war efforts, businesses took advantage and skewed home prices and whatnot to make it so women had no choice but to continue working. This worked out well, because women wanted to work and…

> Most people now forget that 50+ years ago, the husband was the sole bread winner, kept his job for most of his life, and could afford the house, car, 4 children and a few pets. When people say things like this, they gloss over the fact that the standard of living, of what most people find acceptable, has gone up dramatically. Average home size has more than doubled, while family size has gone down. Cars have signif…

It’s also not true. Women worked in the “lower classes”, they were just confined to jobs befitting their station.
Post reply on HN