Official numbers say the U.S. isn’t in recession—does real life feel different?
Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
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Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
#2Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
#3America 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.
Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
#4> GoFundMe CEO says the economy is so bad that more of his customers are crowdfunding just to pay for their groceries
October 13th, 2025
https://fortune.com/2025/10/13/gofundme-ceo-economy-inflatio...
Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
#5America 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.
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?
Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
#6If you are talking about as defined by NBER there is no “official numbers”. Recession by that definition is a) not a fixed set of numbers, the board determines it each time based on lots of different things and they aren’t necessarily the same metrics every time and b) explicitly a backwards looking descriptive designation. Most of the time you will be _through_ a recession before it’s declared.
Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
#7America 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.
In your estimation what was the peak for ease of new entrance to society?
Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
#8They’re running out of cards to stack up in the form of a house
Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
#9America 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.
In your estimation what was the peak for ease of new entrance to society?
Re: Ask HN: Is America in Recession?
#10America 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 have similar social treatment as men.
The issue then is that things kept skewing to the point where today a childless couple with high paying jobs can barely afford a vehicle and tiny apartment.
This may or may not be accurate. But it is an interesting opinion that I've heard a number of times over the years.