The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
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Re: The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
#2Re: The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
#3I'm pretty sure this oped actually means Joe Biden's big problem.
Re: The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
#4The denial is amazing. Real wages are down three years into Biden’s presidency: https://jacobin.com/2023/12/real-wages-joe-biden-administrat.... and the loss in purchasing power is understated by CPI, because it has hit areas where people have little flexibility to reduce spending without reducing standard of living: food, transportation, etc.
According to Redfin, the house we live in (purchased during the 2016 election) could no longer be purchased using an FHA loan, because the limits haven’t kept up with inflation. And even if you could swing the down payment, your monthly payments would be about triple what we pay now.
But yes, WaPo, the problem is that the economy is too good.
Re: The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
#5It is an interesting phenomenon, depending on what numbers you chose to look, things can paint a different picture. For example, labor force participation percentages would tell you all those jobs that are being added, are probably going to the same people, as they get to work more than one job to support themselves.
Re: The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
#6No one forgot. The ruling class doesn’t care and they’re dunking on plebs every day.
Re: The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
#7The denial is amazing. Real wages are down three years into Biden’s presidency: https://jacobin.com/2023/12/real-wages-joe-biden-administrat... . and the loss in purchasing power is understated by CPI, because it has hit areas where people have little flexibility to reduce spending without reducing standard of living: food, transportation, etc. According to Redfin, the house we live in (purchased during the 2016 elec…
>the loss in purchasing power is understated by CPI, because it has hit areas where people have little flexibility to reduce spending without reducing standard of living: food, transportation, etc.
"The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There's something wrong with the way you are measuring it". —Jeff Bezos https://sports.yahoo.com/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-explains-2123...>
Re: The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
#8The denial is amazing. Real wages are down three years into Biden’s presidency: https://jacobin.com/2023/12/real-wages-joe-biden-administrat... . and the loss in purchasing power is understated by CPI, because it has hit areas where people have little flexibility to reduce spending without reducing standard of living: food, transportation, etc. According to Redfin, the house we live in (purchased during the 2016 elec…
Can the federal government build millions of housing units overnight [1]? No. Can they force insurers to not squeeze auto insurance consumers as hard [2]? No. Can they force automakers to reduce their vehicle prices? No (although they are cooling naturally due to the benchmark rate->auto loans->loan payments being unsustainable). Services remain inflated because of reduced labor force participation, and while immigrants and migrants have helped cushion the blow with regards to service inflation from a labor component perspective, appetite for mass deportation of undocumented folks remains high [3] [4].
Some of these problems are years, decades even in the making, structural even [5]. They will not be fixed overnight, nor was this administration the culprit. Some of these problems can’t be fixed because the electorate is…unsophisticated, to be polite.
[1] https://www.fanniemae.com/research-and-insights/perspectives...
[2] https://www.vox.com/2024/2/21/24078362/inflation-car-insuran...
[3] https://www.axios.com/2024/04/25/trump-biden-americans-illeg...
[4] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-05/us-immigr... | https://archive.today/eDWSt
[5] https://www.axios.com/2023/05/08/us-labor-shortage-older-wor...
Re: The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
#9The denial is amazing. Real wages are down three years into Biden’s presidency: https://jacobin.com/2023/12/real-wages-joe-biden-administrat... . and the loss in purchasing power is understated by CPI, because it has hit areas where people have little flexibility to reduce spending without reducing standard of living: food, transportation, etc. According to Redfin, the house we live in (purchased during the 2016 elec…
Can the federal government build millions of housing units overnight [1]? No. Can they force insurers to not squeeze auto insurance consumers as hard [2]? No. Can they force automakers to reduce their vehicle prices? No (although they are cooling naturally due to the benchmark rate->auto loans->loan payments being unsustainable). Services remain inflated because of reduced labor force participation, and while immigra…
I think the proximate cause of the problems is the trillions of dollars we printed in the year or two preceding the onset of the inflation: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL. Massive inflation happened right after a government intervention that economics theory would have predicted would cause massive inflation. I’m not sure you could identify a clearer real-world fact pattern for a government policy having an economic effect than what we have here. Calling the problem “structural” seems like a way to avoid acknowledging the obvious.
I think rather than denying that Biden was the “culprit,” it would be fairer to point out that Trump started it. He was the one that printed trillions to send out Trump-bucks with his signature on them. It would behoove Biden to acknowledge this and turn it back around on Trump, instead of trying to gaslight people into thinking the economy is great. But the structural problem he faces is that his coalition is people who want the government to give them free stuff, and a critical mass of affluent people who only want higher taxes on people richer than them. It’s a coalition that cannot be maintained without deficit spending.
Re: The U.S. economy's big problem? People forgot what 'normal' looks like (2023)
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can the federal government build millions of housing units overnight [1]? No. Can they force insurers to not squeeze auto insurance consumers as hard [2]? No. Can they force automakers to reduce their vehicle prices? No (although they are cooling naturally due to the benchmark rate->auto loans->loan payments being unsustainable). Services remain inflated because of reduced labor force participation, and while immigra…
I think the proximate cause of the problems is the trillions of dollars we printed in the year or two preceding the onset of the inflation: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL . Massive inflation happened right after a government intervention that economics theory would have predicted would cause massive inflation. I’m not sure you could identify a clearer real-world fact pattern for a government policy having an…
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